ST. PETER — St. Peter is receiving $300,000 in state funding to continue its efforts to remove ash trees doomed by the infestation of the invasive emerald ash borer and plant replacements on public property in the city.
City officials stated that St. Peter’s proactive approach to boulevard ash tree removal played a role in winning $300,000 out of a pool of $5 million available to cities statewide. But it appears St. Peter may have gotten a major boost in the competition from a former state lawmaker.
The two-year grant, available through June 30, 2027, will fund removal of EAB-affected boulevard/park ash trees, stump grinding and site preparation, boulevard refurbishment and planting of new, diverse replacement trees. Unlike many state grants, there is no cash match or in-kind contribution required of the recipient, so the $300,000 will be particularly helpful in advancing St. Peter’s Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan without boosting local taxes.
“We are grateful for this support from the Department of Natural Resources,” said Director of Public Works Pete Moulton in a written statement.
“St. Peter has taken early and consistent steps to manage emerald ash borer, and this grant will significantly reduce the financial burden on our community as we work to maintain a healthy and resilient urban canopy.”
The spread of the Asian invasive beetle has killed countless ash trees in the United States since it was first identified in Michigan in 2002.
It is now in every state from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Ocean, other than Florida, according to the Minnesota DNR.
The bugs are also in Colorado, Oregon and multiple Canadian provinces.
The first confirmed cases in Minnesota ash trees were in St. Paul in 2009, and EAB is in most of the state other than the northern and western tiers of counties. The larval stage of the beetles kill ash trees by tunneling beneath the bark, eventually destroying the trees’ ability to circulate water and nutrients. Once infested, ash trees typically die within a few years and can become hazardous due to how brittle the tree limbs become once moisture can no longer reach them.
St. Peter’s next step is to issue a request for proposals from private contractors interested in removing ash trees throughout the city. More information is available on the city’s website.
While the DNR’s Community Tree-Planting Grant program was largely a competitive program, it appears St. Peter and one other town got a very meaningful edge during the late winter or early spring of the 2024 legislative session.
The original version of the funding bill for environmental, natural resource and pollution control budgets didn’t name specific cities as designated winners of tree grants.
But that changed by the time the House version of the bill was finalized in late April by the Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, which included among its members Rep. Jeff Brand, DFL-St. Peter.
The House budget established a $3.4 million Community Tree-Planting Grant program with the provision: “Of this amount, $300,000 is for a grant to the city of Northfield and $300,000 is for a grant to the city of St. Peter.”
In negotiations with the Senate, the size of the grant program increased to $5 million, but Section 3, subdivision 9 of the bill continued to earmark the $600,000 in funds to be split by the two cities.
The bill was signed into law on May 18, 2024.