The Challenge:

The City of North Oaks, like many other Minnesota cities, are experiencing an onslaught of Emerald Ash Borer. The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species that has killed thousands of trees in the area. The City of North Oaks is known for having heavily wooded lots to increase privacy. The entire city is on private land, which makes removing trees difficult.  Ash trees are excellent flora as they help with heating and cooling, adding privacy, and grow in a single straight trunk, which makes homeowners apprehensive about removing them.

What is an effective way to educate the residents of the dangers of the Emerald Ash Borer and the diagnostic process for an infected tree?

The Solution:

The North Oaks Forester provided a visual aid on how to identify an Ash tree, and subsequently identifying an infected tree. He verbally described how the Emerald Ash Borer enters the tree and feeds off it, and visually shows the bored out channels within the trunk.

The four-minute video educates homeowners enough to identify the pests enough to protect their own trees.

Results:

The video reached 600 viewers on NineNorth’s social media. North Oaks is a very private community, so we typically see less external shares on content. Within the North Oaks private community pages, this program could have been shared many times.

Adaptation Prompting:

Is there an initiative or program within your city that residents need more education about? How can you translate that information into a digestible piece of content?