To inform the residents of Chester about major, ongoing tree concerns in town, the Chester Conservation Commission will host a presentation on tree mortality on Wednesday, June 12 at 7 p.m. at the Chester Meeting House. Refreshments and a discussion will follow the meeting.

The town, along with most of the state, is facing a combination of weather and insect damage that has decimated many tree species.

“I think holding this meeting is a fabulous idea,” said First Selectman Lauren Gister. “This is a big problem facing a lot of towns right now and we hope that a large number of residents come out and attend this meeting to learn more about what is going on and what needs to be done. Our focus as a town is on the health and safety of our residents and there have already been two trees that have fallen on cars in town. Thank goodness no one was in the cars when that happened and no one was hurt, but there was damage to the cars.”

Guest speakers will include UConn Associate Extension Professor Thomas Worthley; Emery Gluck, a Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) forester for Cockaponset, Nehantic, and Pachaug state forests; Andrea Urbano, a DEEP service forester for the Central Valley; and Scot Mills, former tree warden for the Town of Chester.

Worthley, who has investigated the tree mortality epidemic in southern Connecticut, will discuss the extent and causes of the problems, especially in the tri-town area. He will explain ways to safely manage and remove dead and dying trees and how to detect if trees are infested or dying. Gluck will explain how DEEP is managing for safety and forest management on state lands, including Cockaponset, and Urbano will explain services she can offer to landowners as a service forester.

Additional monies have been put in into the town’s proposed budget to help offset tree removal costs, and replanting costs that are expected over the next fiscal year due to the tree disease and desecration.

The problem, which first became apparent during the early summer 2018 when numerous trees throughout eastern and southern Connecticut did not produce leaves, is the result, Worthley wrote in a paper about the tree problem, of a combination of gypsy moth infestation and drought conditions in 2016 and 2017.

According to Worthley, many oak trees, after being defoliated by gypsy moths, simply were not able to produce sufficient energy reserves to survive. This, combined with the loss of ash trees in the area due to the invasive emerald ash borer, a beetle that has been moving across Connecticut, means the number of large, standing, dead trees throughout the area presents what could be described as a slow-moving environmental disaster.

Worthley wrote that the number of dead trees that have the potential to affect roadways and power lines is beyond the current capacity of property owners, town budgets, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, and/or utilities to address. Initial data from a random sampling of 160 miles of local roads in eastern Connecticut towns from Sprague to Durham has indicated an average of 14 dead roadside trees per mile, half of which can be categorized as high potential risk.

Gister explained that in a report conducted by Mills, 19 percent of the roadside trees in Chester are ash trees.

“Its my understanding that when ash trees are infested, they die within a very short period of time and become dangerous quickly, so this is something we are aware of and are trying to prepare for in town,” said Gister.

She added, “I hate taking trees down, because I love the fact that Chester is a forested town, but we need to keep our residents safe and our roads clear, so we need to take down the trees that are dangerous and have a plan in place to replace them by planting new trees that have been researched, so we know whether they are native to the area and how they will interact with the forests we already have.”