TruGreen Partners with the City of Evansville, Indiana to Fight Invasive Beetle and Save Trees through "Adopt-an-Ash" Community Program

EVANSVILLE, Ind. and MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TruGreen, the nation's leading professional lawn, tree and shrub care service provider, today announced a partnership with the City of Evansville, Indiana to protect against emerald ash borer, an exotic beetle which feeds on and destroys ash trees. To build awareness of insect's destructive impact to these trees and to encourage community involvement in the initiative, the City has collaborated with TruGreen to create a new "Adopt-an-Ash" program.

TruGreen has provided ash borer tree services to municipalities and residents across affected states as well as Canada, and worked with the City of Evansville to design a community-wide approach to protecting the roughly 300 ash trees on public property. Through the new "Adopt-an-Ash" program, residents, businesses and organizations can sponsor a tree and subsidize its treatment and protection. Each tree will be identified with a customized tag identifying the donation and adoption.

"The emerald ash borer beetle is a destructive force that has the potential to destroy our city's beautiful ash trees if we don't take proactive measures," said Lloyd Winnecke, Mayor City of Evansville. "TruGreen has a proven track record of successfully saving thousands of ash trees, and we are proud to partner with the leader.

"We look forward to seeing our neighbors and local businesses supporting the 'Adopt-an-Ash' program by sponsoring a city tree, and recommend all residents consider protective services for ash trees on their personal or commercial property," continued Mayor Winnecke. 

Emerald Ash Borer Detection and Protection

The emerald ash borer has killed millions of ash trees across the U.S. and Canada. With no natural predator, it could eventually cause the functional extinction of the North American ash tree. The United States Department of Agriculture has estimated that costs related to responding to the infestation including treatment, removal and replacement will reach upwards of $10 billion by 2019.

Detection of the beetle is difficult and professional help is typically needed. TruGreen offers homeowners a free evaluation to determine if an infestation exists. Using special equipment to detect the beetle's presence, TruGreen specialists can treat and protect the trees. The best way to stop the pest is by preventing infestation and treating the tree early. Too often, by the time the beetle is detected, it's too late to save the tree. If a tree is already infested or to protect a healthy tree, a TruGreen specialist uses a proprietary trunk-injection method designed to deliver the treatment product directly to the tree's vascular system.

"In the past several years, TruGreen has been working with local governments, as well as individual home and land owners, to treat and protect more than 25,000 ash trees across the U.S. and Canada," said Ben Hamza, PhD, Director of Technical Operations at TruGreen. "Our partnership with the City of Evansville has created a new standard for our work with municipalities. We believe the unique 'Adopt-an-Ash' sponsorship program can serve as a model for other communities currently fighting or are concerned about the invasive pest."

Emerald ash borer has been found in Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Colorado, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—as well as in Canada, in Ontario and Quebec. TruGreen's tree treatment is good for up to two years and when treated early enough has a greater than 95 percent success rate in saving the tree. More information on TruGreen's services against the beetle can be found at: http://www.trugreen.com/blog/tree-service/tree-ofbm/.

Tax-deductible contribution to "Adopt-an-Ash" should be sent to the Evansville Parks Foundation, P.O. Box 3112, Evansville, IN  47730. Please note that the funds are for the treatment of city-owned ash trees. A map of available trees and online acceptance of donations is at evansville.adoptanash.org.

About TruGreen

Memphis, Tenn.-based TruGreen is the nation's largest lawn care company, serving more than 1.9 million residential and commercial customers across the United States with lawn, tree and shrub care. TruGreen believes more life should be lived outside and is committed to providing a beautiful lawn to serve as the foundation for outside experiences and lifelong memories. As the leader in the professional lawn care industry, TruGreen helps define responsible lawn care practices, conducts industry-leading education and training for our people, pioneers new application technologies and educates our customers on proper mowing and wise-use watering techniques. Today, there are approximately 260 TruGreen lawn care branches and satellite offices in the United States and Canada. Go to TruGreen.com or facebook.com/TruGreen for more information about TruGreen.

CONTACT: Amy Simpson, 901-251-4007, [email protected]; or Danielle Sullivan or Graciela Rasor, MSLGROUP, 781-684-0770, [email protected]

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SOURCE TruGreen

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