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Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan City of St. Anthony Village, MN WSB Project No. 022315-000 Page 9 7.0 Public Outreach and Education The City of St. Anthony Village has been a member of Tree City USA for five consecutive years and has made many advances in communicating information about EAB and forestry-related issues in general. There has been an effort to produce content for the City newsletter, create a tree contractor list for residents, and a series of FAQs for staff to better answer the public’s questions about ash injections on public property. In 2022, Staff also applied for a Community Forestry Member (AmeriCorps) and were awarded a member in 2023. The member had several forestry-related roles, but one was answering homeowner questions related to EAB. Education and empowering the public to act on their property is important due to the number of ash trees that are planted on private property, which are part of the overall community forest providing ecosystem services (or creating a tree-risk situation) for St. Anthony Village residents. Methods that will be used to expand communication on EAB and the City’s plan include:  City newsletter articles (Village Notes)  Website  Social media  Public meetings  Staff outreach at City events  Staff/Intern/AmeriCorps provided informal education via resident phone calls or public tree inspection. 8.0 Management of Public Ash Trees with Best Management Practices (BMPs) When EAB was first found in Michigan, several management strategies were attempted and failed. Since that time, several research-informed strategies have emerged and are now the industry accepted best management practices (BMPs) for reducing the costs and preserving tree value during the peak of EAB infestation. Minnesota has benefitted from the early research, and as a result, done better than many of the initially infested states due to aggressive management, education, outreach, quarantines, sanitation, and cold weather.