The shaded areas of North Buffalo's Shoshone Park are not going to be shaded for much longer, as the invasive emerald ash borer has taken its toll on most of the trees in the park.
Buffalo Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt held a public meeting at the Gloria J. Parks Center in North Buffalo Monday to let people know that dozens of ash trees will have to be cut down because they have been infected by the invasive species.
About 15 trees have been cut down so far and 70 more will have to go. Wyatt is not happy about the solution, but says, "I don't think there's any other way that we can get around it, so it's something that we're going to have to deal with for a period of time, but what's important to me is that the community was aware of it."
While almost all of the trees in the park now are ash trees, the ones that replace them will be a variety of different species, according to Andy Rabb, Deputy Public Works Commissioner for Parks.
Rabb says since the new trees are being planted by contractors, they will be large, around three inches in diameter, and will establish the tree canopy faster than if they had used smaller trees.
Rabb says the park will get improvements along with the replacement trees.
"We're rebuilding the basketball court, we're turning the tennis court into a street hockey court, and we're adding some benches to the park," he said, and adds they are also close to completing a ramp to provide an ADA-compliant ramp to connect the park to the Rails-To-Trails Minnesota linear park.