Property owners would rather rake than lose ash; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

The ash takes its leave StarTribune.com:
Karen Flink was busy in her front yard last week, getting her peonies ready for winter.
But for the first time in 36 years, she didn't have to rake. The day before, foresters had cut down her ash tree.
'We wish that insect had never invaded,' she said of the borer whose first appearance in Minnesota was confirmed in her St. Paul neighborhood in May. It now threatens the state's 900 million ash trees. 'But it happened, and now we have to deal with the consequences.