Have you noticed any D-shaped escape holes in the side of your ash trees? It's a sign the tree is infected with the emerald ash borer. As of this writing, there are no signs of the deadly bug in Chanhassen, but City Forester Jill Sinclair said over the course of the next year she would develop a plan that could be implemented if it ever gets here.

"The bug lays its eggs on the bark of ash trees. The larva bores into live wood and emerges as an adult, leaving a D-shaped exit hole in the dying tree," according to Minnesota Conservation Volunteer.

Sinclair said up to one third of the trees in Chanhassen are ash trees. The city has not planted ash trees, though, for a handful of years, due to the emergence of the ash borer. Many of the neighborhoods that developed during the 1990s and 1980s are heavily planted with ash, she added.

The borer would most likely get into Chanhassen in transferred firewood or possibly in wood chips, she said, adding: "In this day and age, there is no such thing as isolation."

To see information from state experts about protecting trees from the ash borer, go to http://www.mda.state.mn.us/news/releases/2009/nr-2009-06-25-eabhomeowner....