TO BE PUBLISHED JUNE 15, 2010
Emerald Ash Borer’s effect on common interest communities
By Steve Hoogenakker and the MDA
Why should I care about EAB?
All ash trees are susceptible to EAB and millions of ash trees have been killed in infested areas already. It’s estimated that townhome associations may have as many as 40% of their trees as ash trees. Minnesota has one of the highest volumes of ash on forestland in the U.S. with an estimated 867 million forestland ash trees and ash is a prominent component of our urban forests as well.
How many trees do you have in your association? If you have 200 units and there’s two trees per unit including common areas, that could mean 160 ash trees. The potential economic and environmental impacts of losing these trees is substantial. The cost of removing and replacing a single tree can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In any case, knowing the number and size of ash trees will be helpful and setting reserves aside now for future tree replacements or treatments is a good idea.
How do I prepare for EAB affecting my association? You have two choices. You can learn to spot EAB on your own using the links below. The information also includes insecticide information that will teach someone in your association to treat the trees or contact a reputable tree/landscape company especially if there are any large ash trees. Some companies will perform an Ash Tree audit to see how many ashes you have. The three options available for your ash trees are
1. Remove the Ash trees now and replace with a different tree so the landscape can continue to mature.
2. Treat the ash trees using an insecticide. The treatments may have to take place for the remainder of the tree’s life. This is probably too expensive for your entire association, but if you have large ash trees in prominent areas, these can’t really be replaced and treatments might be the best option.
3. Wait until the ash trees die, dispose of properly and replace later.
Emerald Ash Borer is in Minnesota
On May 14, 2009, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was confirmed as present in the South Saint Anthony Park neighborhood in St. Paul. EAB is a serious invasive tree pest, and consequently a quarantine has been placed on Ramsey, Hennepin, and Houston counties to help slow the spread of EAB to other areas. >>See Quarantine Information
What is EAB?
EAB is an insect that attacks and kills ash trees. The adults are small, iridescent green beetles that live outside of trees during the summer months. The larvae are grub or worm-like and live underneath the bark of ash trees. Trees are killed by the tunneling of the larvae under the tree's bark.
Where is EAB?
EAB is native to eastern Asia but was discovered in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario in 2002. Indications are it may have been introduced to this area as early 1990. EAB has been spread in ash firewood, nursery stock and possibly other ash materials to a number of new areas
“Dealing with emerald ash borer is a new challenge for most Minnesotans,” said MDA Plant Protection Director Geir Friisoe. “In some cases people may not know when it makes sense to treat their trees and when it doesn’t, or what kind of treatment will work best for their situation. With so many options out there and so many factors to consider, we thought it would be helpful to provide homeowners with all the relevant information in one small package.”
“It’s not just a matter of picking the most effective option for your trees,” Friisoe said. “There are potential water quality and human health concerns with some of these products if they are not used properly. We’re doing our best to get that information into the hands of homeowners, but ultimately the responsibility is theirs to read, understand and follow the label requirements.”
Available to download on MDA’s Web site at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/eab, the guide recommends that homeowners consider the following factors before moving forward with an insecticide treatment: Also on the right side of the website, there are links to an EAB treatment guide, FAQ’s and how to determine if I have EAB.
Identify if EAB is near: Treatments are only advised for trees within about 15 miles of known infestations.
Consider removing and replacing small and struggling ash tree: The cost of replacing these trees may be less than the cost of repeated treatments over the years.
Check the calendar: Treatments are most effective from mid-April through June.
Have a professional treat large ash trees: Do-it-yourself products are generally less effective on trees larger than 48 inches in circumference or 15 inches in diameter.
Contact a certified arborist or city forester before treating your trees: Some communities have special restrictions or requirements.
Steve Hoogenakker, STeve@Landscape.pro, 763-213-2410
Concierge Landscape Environments, CAI, CAI Minnesota, MHA, CICMidwest
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
CAI Community Associations Institute and LinkedIn for property managers
&
By Steve Hoogenakker Concierge Landscape Environments
LinkedIn and CAI – The link to the top professionals in the CAI Community
What is LinkedIn and why is it so important to property managers & HOA’s? First of all, it’s the best way to post your questions and have them answered by your peers. Second, there are members of groups like CAI and CAI Minnesota that you can join for free and get timely articles and discussions on topics you care the most about.
LinkedIn is not a passing fad, it’s here to stay and it’s your free tool for important information.
The average LinkedIN user is a college educated 43 year old making $107,000 per year. Where else can you connect to this level of professionals in your industry? There were 17 million visitors in February. Who is visiting? Your customers, your employers, your employees, your vendors, your fellow homeowners and your peers.
This isn’t your “facebook for adults”, and this isn’t a short “tweet”. This is a free, powerful tool to manage your professional life and career, even if you aren’t looking for a new one.
Recently, Accenture’s head of global recruiting , John Campagnino, announced that he is hiring for 50,000 positions. 40% of those he expects to get through social media, particularly LinkedIn, so if you’re not using social media for your benefit, you’re missing out.
You Google other people, don’t you think they Google you? Of course they do. LinkedIn organizes your life’s work and interests, so if people search for you, it’s all presented in a clear, concise manner.
Here’s an example of LinkedIn’s value:
Nishar was trying to decide whether his daughter, who was 12 at the time, should spend her summer at a program offered by Johns Hopkins University. He posted the question to his status update on both Facebook and LinkedIn. While he received more comments on Facebook, they were casual and congratulatory. Only four of his LinkedIn contacts wrote him, but they offered a rich analysis, describing experiences with the Johns Hopkins program that left them better off academically; they persuaded him to enroll his daughter. "People are in a different context and mindset when they're in a professional network," he says.
CAI and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is even more important to members of CAI. The most powerful aspect of LinkedIn is it’s groups. There are 4 groups available as of this writing; Community Associations Institute, CAI Minnesota, CAI – CT, and CIC and Townhome Mastermind Group.
These groups are made of your peers. There are relevant discussions there that can help you with your business or association. You can post your own discussion, or even ask a question. The members of these groups have been very supportive, and calls for help are almost always answered. We’ll tell you how to find these groups a little later.
So, how do you get started?
If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, go to www.linkedin.com, and setup an account. It’s free. There’s no need to use the paid version. It will take maybe a half hour to two hours to enter the information. If you’ve been a professional for awhile, you don’t need to enter in irrelevant information like grade school, or even high school information.
Your typical profile might have your current position and company on top with previous employment underneath, Then you might decide to list your goals. Also on your profile, you can have LinkedIn automatically grab your blog entries, twitter, facebook entries and articles you’ve written. You can also list things like the groups you belong to, your reading list, people you’ve recommended, and people who have recommended you.
After you’ve done the original profile and joined a few groups, you might want to spend 30 minutes every 6 months or so updating your profile and inviting others to join your network. I encourage you to join the groups I mentioned earlier. Post a thought, or pose a question and get involved with your peers.
After the original setup, look for the CAI groups listed above and ask to join. Use the searchbar in the upper right and change the search from people to groups. Besides the CAI groups, look for other interests that are not based in business, like bird watchers, executive weightlifters, speakers and panelists, gardeners, whatever. For every interest you have, there are probably already 5 groups or more to possibly join. If you’re really passionate about an issue, it’s very easy to start your own group, like I did with CIC and Townhome Mastermind.
So get LinkedIn, join a few groups, and share this article with friends and famly. I hope your life can be enriched a little like mine has.
Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
By Steve Hoogenakker Concierge Landscape Environments
LinkedIn and CAI – The link to the top professionals in the CAI Community
What is LinkedIn and why is it so important to property managers & HOA’s? First of all, it’s the best way to post your questions and have them answered by your peers. Second, there are members of groups like CAI and CAI Minnesota that you can join for free and get timely articles and discussions on topics you care the most about.
LinkedIn is not a passing fad, it’s here to stay and it’s your free tool for important information.
The average LinkedIN user is a college educated 43 year old making $107,000 per year. Where else can you connect to this level of professionals in your industry? There were 17 million visitors in February. Who is visiting? Your customers, your employers, your employees, your vendors, your fellow homeowners and your peers.
This isn’t your “facebook for adults”, and this isn’t a short “tweet”. This is a free, powerful tool to manage your professional life and career, even if you aren’t looking for a new one.
Recently, Accenture’s head of global recruiting , John Campagnino, announced that he is hiring for 50,000 positions. 40% of those he expects to get through social media, particularly LinkedIn, so if you’re not using social media for your benefit, you’re missing out.
You Google other people, don’t you think they Google you? Of course they do. LinkedIn organizes your life’s work and interests, so if people search for you, it’s all presented in a clear, concise manner.
Here’s an example of LinkedIn’s value:
Nishar was trying to decide whether his daughter, who was 12 at the time, should spend her summer at a program offered by Johns Hopkins University. He posted the question to his status update on both Facebook and LinkedIn. While he received more comments on Facebook, they were casual and congratulatory. Only four of his LinkedIn contacts wrote him, but they offered a rich analysis, describing experiences with the Johns Hopkins program that left them better off academically; they persuaded him to enroll his daughter. "People are in a different context and mindset when they're in a professional network," he says.
CAI and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is even more important to members of CAI. The most powerful aspect of LinkedIn is it’s groups. There are 4 groups available as of this writing; Community Associations Institute, CAI Minnesota, CAI – CT, and CIC and Townhome Mastermind Group.
These groups are made of your peers. There are relevant discussions there that can help you with your business or association. You can post your own discussion, or even ask a question. The members of these groups have been very supportive, and calls for help are almost always answered. We’ll tell you how to find these groups a little later.
So, how do you get started?
If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, go to www.linkedin.com, and setup an account. It’s free. There’s no need to use the paid version. It will take maybe a half hour to two hours to enter the information. If you’ve been a professional for awhile, you don’t need to enter in irrelevant information like grade school, or even high school information.
Your typical profile might have your current position and company on top with previous employment underneath, Then you might decide to list your goals. Also on your profile, you can have LinkedIn automatically grab your blog entries, twitter, facebook entries and articles you’ve written. You can also list things like the groups you belong to, your reading list, people you’ve recommended, and people who have recommended you.
After you’ve done the original profile and joined a few groups, you might want to spend 30 minutes every 6 months or so updating your profile and inviting others to join your network. I encourage you to join the groups I mentioned earlier. Post a thought, or pose a question and get involved with your peers.
After the original setup, look for the CAI groups listed above and ask to join. Use the searchbar in the upper right and change the search from people to groups. Besides the CAI groups, look for other interests that are not based in business, like bird watchers, executive weightlifters, speakers and panelists, gardeners, whatever. For every interest you have, there are probably already 5 groups or more to possibly join. If you’re really passionate about an issue, it’s very easy to start your own group, like I did with CIC and Townhome Mastermind.
So get LinkedIn, join a few groups, and share this article with friends and famly. I hope your life can be enriched a little like mine has.
Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)