Remember the emerald ash borer? It's hitting you in your pocketbook again

Sep. 17—From more expensive tool handles to flooring, cabinetry, and even wooden-baseball bats, the highly destructive tiny green beetle from Asia known as the emerald ash borer has hurt North America's economy in many ways since it first invaded this continent via shipping crates unloaded in a Detroit suburb nearly two decades ago.

They killed millions of healthy ash trees and caused state and federal agricultural agencies to remove countless others in a desperate — and, ultimately — failed effort to fend off the pest.

And now, the emerald ash borer's destruction — often seen as one of the downsides of rising global trade — is hitting property owners another way: Many of the dead and dying ash trees have fallen into ditches and streams, causing massive logjams that county engineering departments will have to spend millions of dollars to remove.

Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski put it this way: If you want to blame something for assessments that Lucas, Fulton, and Henry counties are contemplating, blame the emerald ash borer.

As he told about 50 people attending a public gathering Thursday, more than half of the trees causing logjams in Swan Creek today are ash trees.

And there are a lot of logjams: A recent aerial survey showed more than 300 along Swan Creek along, some so big they can be seen on Google Earth.

Many are collecting sediment, debris, litter, and dead animals, increasing flood risks and causing water to channel new paths where it wasn't meant to flow.

"In any given year, you're going to have some debris," Mr. Pniewski said. "But we're getting a lot of full trees, and a majority of those are ash."

The situation became bad enough that the village of Whitehouse petitioned the county to start clearing out Swan Creek in March, the first step in a long review process that is expected to lead to a joint meeting on Dec. 2 for commissioners from Lucas, Fulton, and Henry counties to agree the work needs to be done.

On a parallel path is a request to start clearing out Tenmile Creek, where a similar problem exists.

That one was filed by Spencer Township and is up to commissioners from Lucas and Fulton counties to decide.

A joint meeting is scheduled on Nov. 4 for commissioners from those two counties.

Both meetings will be at One Government Center in downtown Toledo.

Mr. Pniewski said a detailed work plan will take about two years, meaning tree removal won't start until at least fall of 2023.

The cost?

He envisions about $2 million of work a year for each of the first six years of the future work plan to be paid by a special assessment on all property owners in affected counties.

Some municipalities, including Toledo, have already agreed to roll it into current assessments, which means affected property owners won't likely see the charges appear separately on future tax bills. Unless a municipality has a surplus, though, it will likely pass those costs along in some fashion.

For the average Lucas County property owner, the new assessments — if approved — are expected to cost $10 to $20 more per year, Mr. Pniewski said.

Mr. Pniewski also said he envisions an assessment weighted on where people live, the size of their property, and how much "value" they get from having Swan Creek and Tenmile Creek flowing freely again.

He made his comments during Thursday's fourth and final "view" at a Swan Creek Metropark picnic shelter, and during an interview with The Blade on Wednesday. The process requires county engineers to have public meetings, called views, for residents in affected areas.

Unlike some past events, nobody spoke in opposition at Thursday's view.

Several residents asked for clarifications.

The most outspoken was Peggy Brown, a longtime Perrysburg Holland Road resident who agreed there is a lot of much-needed maintenance to Swan Creek but warned others to be wary of equipment the county ultimately brings onto their property to do work.

She and her neighbors said they have been frustrated by efforts made by the city of Toledo and private companies to clear out logjams in the past, in part because of what they described as damage to their property by heavy machinery and delays in hauling away trees and other debris they've pulled out.

"They don't have the right equipment," she told The Blade. "It's not just a matter of taking it out. It's the process."

Ms. Brown said it's important for the county engineer's office "to work with the homeowner."

Mr. Pniewski quipped how Ms. Brown would make a great foreman, and she said she'd absolutely take the job if offered.

"I've been on this creek since I was a child," said Ms. Brown, who's lived in her current home more than 50 years and along Swan Creek longer than that.

She and her husband, Ben Brown, said they budget about $1,500 a year to clear out dead trees and debris annually, but the creek continues to clog.

One of the biggest issues other than emerald ash borer destruction is one familiar to northwest Ohio residents, runoff from area farm fields and other large sources of loose sediment, Mr. Pniewski said.

The problem's generally gotten worse because of climate change.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Midwest is second only to New England for an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms over the past 50 years, which has increased runoff.

Swan Creek and Tenmile Creek haven't been cleared out for at least 50 years, if ever, Mr. Pniewski said.

Another problem, which Ms. Brown talked about and Mr. Pniewski confirmed, has been landowners who blow leaves and throw grass clippings into ditches and streams.

Those organics decay but add to the sediment clogging streams.

Typically, Ms. Brown said, dead trees fall into Swan Creek and collect sediment, debris, litter, and even some carcasses of dead animals trying to pass through them.

But she agreed with Mr. Pniewski: "The ash borer has definitely caused more problems with the logjams."

Mr. Pniewski said the new maintenance assessments, if approved by the joint county boards, would remain in effect in perpetuity to pay for future maintenance.

But he said the work scope would be reviewed annually, and the amount of assessment would be adjusted accordingly.

Mr. Pniewski said he expects it to go down after most of the work is completed in the first six years.

"Basically, the amount of assessment is reflective of the amount of work that needs to be done," he said.

Not everyone is convinced.

At a meeting in July inside Wildwood Preserve Metropark's Ward Pavilion for the Tenmile Creek proposal, many people yelled, screamed, cursed, and otherwise vocalized strong opposition to any new taxes.

Penny Gentieu, a critic of the proposal, did not speak at Thursday's event but told The Blade beforehand she's not pleased by how the process has gone.

"It's hard to believe that they can really do whatever they want to whoever's property they want, and have such control, but there it is in the law — all it takes is a petition signed by two people and voted on by three commissioners [of each county]," she said. "I believe ditch petitions are really just meant for smaller rural projects, but here they are doing it to an entire population of people in cities and villages along with county townships."

Mr. Pniewski told The Blade the Swan Creek and Tenmile Creek projects are indeed the largest ditch projects the county engineer's office has undertaken.

First Published September 16, 2021, 5:52pm