Local News
Chainsaw Class
Norm Hall and Robert Kinnucan recently held a chainsaw sharpening class for our tree care employees. Everyone was able to take a turn sharpening a chainsaw. Keeping blades properly sharpened is not only important from an efficiency standpoint, but extremely crucial for maintaining the highest safety standards.
Kris Bockhaut was recently named Vice President of Kinnucan
Kris Bockhaut was recently named Vice President of Kinnucan. She has been with the company for over fifteen years in a management position. Her responsibilities have included Human Resources, Corporate Insurance, Municipal Contracting, Accounting and Financial Functions, Marketing, Corporate Imaging and Branding, Technology Support and Development, as well as General Management Responsibilities.
In this newly created position, Kris will oversee the strategic direction and operation of Kinnucan. Robert Kinnucan, President of Kinnucan had this to say, “Kris has contributed to our success in so many ways, and we look forward to many more future years together.”
Kinnucan Tree Experts ALL COMPANY photo with the Kinnucrane!
Discover the Latest Landscaping Trends
As we start to think about spring and hopefully warmer weather, now is a great time to think about your landscape and any changes or additions you’ve been dreaming about. If you are looking to freshen up your patio, lawn or garden with some updated landscaping, make sure you take a look at one of these current trends.
Current Landscaping Trends:
- Simplicity
- Fire accents
- Outdoor rooms
- Concrete pavement
- Edible and Rain Gardens
- Water features
- Accent lighting
Less is More
In the years following the recession, homeowners have moved away from over-the-top landscapes to investments in higher quality, more natural materials. Low-maintenance grasses are especially popular since they require less time and money and cut back on the use of fertilizers and weed killers.
Fan the Flame
Homeowners are turning up the heat on their landscaping designs with dramatic fire accents. Whether it’s a fire pit, an outdoor fireplace or full-blown outdoor kitchen, a fiery accent can add a cozy, romantic feel to any outdoor area.
Inside Out
Bring the game outside! By mounting a TV outdoors, you can enjoy the day while you watch your favorite teams. Just make sure your TV is rated for outdoor use, and installed properly by a professional. And, as the technology behind waterproof and fade-resistant outdoor fabrics improves, full outdoor rooms are becoming increasingly popular. Homeowners are furnishing their patios with permanent living spaces complete with comfortable furniture and stylish designs.
Pave the Way
With continued improvements in the quality of paving, concrete is becoming a trendy, affordable landscaping alternative to stone and brick. Combined with the right pattern and design, pavement can be a complementary asset to any yard, as well as environmentally advantageous.
Vegging Out
While vegetable gardens have always been around, edible yards are experiencing a never-before-seen boom in popularity. Growing everything from fruit trees and tomato vines to berry bushes and medicinal plants, homeowners are adding a variety of colorful, useful plants to every area of their yards. Have you heard of a Rain Garden? This is a wonderful way to enjoy the beauty of a garden while making the best use of rain runoff.
Testing the Waters
Water features are dominating landscaping designs, adding a natural, fresh feel to outdoor areas. From simple birdbaths to bubblers, to elaborate, high-end water walls, homeowners are truly going crazy for water landscaping.
Lights on!
With LED lighting becoming more affordable and much more aesthetically pleasing, we are seeing outdoor patio lighting, particularly strings of lights across such places as pergolas and gazebos. Up-lighting, “Moonlighting” (high lighting placed up in trees to shine down on patios), and Down-lighting from hardscape (hidden by day, lights up at night) are trending, along with the ability to control from your iphone and/or ipad.
KINNUCAN CONTRACTS WITH CITY OF LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS
Kinnucan Tree Experts has been awarded 2015 tree removal contracts for the City of Lake Forest. In a continued effort to remove diseased Ash, the City of Lake Forest is aggressively removing trees along city parkways. Trees being tagged are either dead, beyond saving or pose specific safety hazards. The City’s long-range plan is to replace about 400 ash trees a year through 2021.
BUR OAK BLIGHT
A serious leaf blight disease on bur oak has been recognized in several Midwestern States, including Illinois. Researchers in Iowa confirmed that this disease is caused by a new, and yet unnamed, species of Tubakia. The disease was named bur oak blight, or BOB for short.
BOB occurs only on bur oaks, primarily on naturally established trees, and especially on mature trees on upland sites that appear to be remnants of savannah forests.
Leaf symptoms typically first appear in late July or August. Infected leaves develop purple-brown lesions along the midvein and major lateral veins on the underside of leaves. Large, wedge-shaped areas of chlorosis and necrosis develop on the leaf blade, and major leaf mortality may occur. The symptoms of wilting and leaf scorch resemble, and have been confused with, symptoms induced by oak wilt. A unique feature of BOB is that some of the killed leaves remain on the tree during the winter (healthy bur oak trees shed all of their leaves in the fall)
Over time, severely affected trees may die. Boosting tree vigor may prolong the life of affected trees and ward off invasion by secondary pests. In preliminary studies, injections of the fungicide propiconazole in late May or early June (prior to leaf symptoms) have reduced symptom development in the fall and the following year. For more information of Bur Oak Wilt, feel free to contact one of the Kinnucan Arborists.
KINNUCAN AWARDED 2015 CONTRACTS FOR EMERALD ASH BORER CONTROL AND DUTCH ELM DISEASE
To date, Kinnucan has been awarded 2015 municipal contracts for the following cities and towns:
- The Village of Mount Prospect, Illinois (Emerald Ash Borer Control)
- The City of Naperville, Illinois (Emerald Ash Borer Control)
- The City of Park Ridge, Illinois (Dutch Elm Disease)
- The Village of Schaumburg, Illinois (Emerald Ash Borer Control)
- The City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Emerald Ash Borer Control)
- The City of Des Moines, Iowa (Emerald As Borer Control)
Kinnucan donated $1,000 to “Friends of Lake Forest Rec Department” for scholarship to Lake Forest’s Sailing Program
Lake Forest Sailing is one of the best sailing programs in the country and a phenomenal city resource. They were awarded the Best Community Sailing Program of the Year from the Illinois Parks and Recreations Association. Scholarship dollars provide local deserving kids the chance to learn to sail.
Firewood & the Fight against EAB – The Do’s and Don’ts of Preserving Illinois Landscape
Before you begin to gather and transport firewood in Illinois for that beautiful campfire you are preparing for, there are a few things you need to know. Due to the infestation of Emerald Ash Borer, or EAB, in the State of Illinois, there are state and federal government regulations that must be adhered to when you purchase, cut down, or even gather what appears to be “just dead” wood. More importantly, you need to be aware of the devastating affect a simple plan of a campfire can have on the Illinois Landscape when you transport just one small piece of infested wood to a different location.
The entire State of Illinois has been federally regulated by placing all ash products under quarantine. This includes ash nursery stock, green lumber, logs, stumps, roots, branches and non-composited wood chips. Because distinguishing the hardwood firewood type is nearly impossible by sight – all hardwood firewood (oak, maple, hickory, and ash) are regulated under the quarantine.
What this means for firewood distributors and producers is they are not allowed to move any hardwood firewood out of the State of Illinois. (There are very stringent regulations and precautions that must be followed and inspection made before migration out of State will even be considered permissible.)
Now, here is where the tricky part of the quarantine comes in, more so for those of us who just want to build a simple fire to relax around on a cool summer night. The USDA allows firewood that originated in Illinois to move freely within Illinois State lines. However, The Illinois Department of Agriculture has an interior quarantine in place that states firewood that originated in the interior quarantine (a known infested area) must not leave the interior quarantine. In other words, the IDA urges (and enforces) confirmed infested areas to burn ash firewood at origin site and transporting firewood off site should be kept to an almost non-existent minimal. Keep in mind, there are those stringent regulations by the IDA for migrating, that also apply within the interior boundaries, mentioned above. The ultimate goal is to keep all firewood local. Simply stated, firewood that is produced, distributed, sold, bought, gathered, etc. locally should be burned locally. No matter where you camp in the State of Illinois, you will be asked to burn all of your firewood before leaving, and you will not be permitted to transport left over wood home with you. “No log shall be left unburned.”
Educating the citizens of Illinois of the risks associated with movement of firewood and other products is an ultimate goal that needs to be met, especially in these critical times where more and more ash trees are dying and becoming readily available as firewood. So think before you pick up that dead branch, or buy your next bushel of firewood and start traveling with it. Help preserve the Illinois Landscape by knowing the boundaries of the quarantines, and better yet, know you could be hauling a lot more than just wood.
If you have any questions, please contact one of our tree experts who specialize in the fight against Emerald Ash Borer and the preservation of our landscape. Let us inspect before you infest!
Kinnucan lends out one of our trucks to local Rotary Club for parade
We were happy to let the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Rotary Club use our loader for the Lake Forest Days Parade. We even decorated it for them!