HOLS Save Your Ash 2026

Heart of Lincoln Square is working to treat and preserve ash trees in our community.

Ash trees are a huge part of Lincoln Square’s beautiful tree canopy — at least 30 percent of it, actually. But they are under constant threat from a deadly pest known as emerald ash borer (EAB). 

All of our neighborhood’s ash trees will likely die within a few years unless they are treated, leaving our urban canopy depleted and our streetscapes decimated. 

There is an affordable and effective treatment that provides up to two years of protection against EAB, but the city of Chicago has stopped these treatments due to budget cuts. 

Instead, the city will focus on removing dead and infected ash and replacing them with other species, an approach that’s actually been shown to cost millions more than treatment. Plus, they’re replacing these broad, shade-giving trees with saplings that will take at least 50 years to reach maturity. We’re actively urging the city to reconsider this policy — but we must be proactive in the meantime.

Please see the map below of all of the ash trees that are affected within our boundaries:

Inventory of Ash Trees within HOLS area

If you wish to donate for a specific tree, perhaps one on your block, please check out the map here and put the address of the tree(s) you want to sponsor in the designated text box under the "Amount" section. You can also put the exact amount of the cost of the treatment as noted on the map as a custom donation. 

If you are able to, you can also chip in to help us save trees that are not sponsored. Any unspecified donations will be directed towards covering the largest unsponsored trees first down to the smallest. And if we surpass our goal of saving them all, we will earmark any surplus donations towards their future treatment.

The cost to treat a tree will vary depending on how thick their trunk is, but with the average price costing $150 per tree, you can save one, two, or several trees with our different levels of donation. They are:

$1,000 - That’s A Lot of Ash!

$500 - Ash-stounding!

$300 - Love Your Ash!

$150 - Ash-tastic!

Or do your own Custom Amount

One hundred percent of donated funds will go directly to treating the ash trees. 

Here are some reasons folks have chosen to sponsor:

• Sponsor the trees near your home or choose others that are important to you, such as those around Winnemac Park. 

• Honor a friend or loved one by donating in their memory. 

• Sponsor several trees through your business.

Everyone benefits from these trees being a part of our community and it is up to us to save them. 

The donation deadline is July 31st, 2023 in order to successfully have the arborist be able to pull permits and treat them this fall. Donate today and tell your neighbors and friends so we can save every single one of them!