Ash trees in Glenview, Illinois.
Essentially every untreated ash on the North Shore is dead or dying from emerald ash borer. A dead ash is the one removal that genuinely should not wait - the wood goes brittle fast, limbs come off with no warning, and the job gets both more dangerous and more expensive the longer the tree stands.
Glenview rules on ash
Ash falls in Glenview's high-quality class, so a private ash at 8 inches or more in diameter at breast height is technically a protected landmark tree. In practice dead and hazardous trees are handled differently from healthy ones, and a borer-killed ash is not a tree the village is trying to preserve - but the paperwork still has to be right. Call Inspectional Services at (847) 904-4300 or let us file it. If the dead ash is on the parkway rather than your lawn, it is the village's to remove, not yours: Public Works, (847) 724-1700. The line between parkway and private is not always where people assume, and Public Works will tell you which side a tree is on.
Where ash stands in Glenview
Ash was planted across Glenview as the elm replacement, on parkways and in yards, and the emerald ash borer has taken essentially all of it. The village has worked through the public side - Glenview Public Works removes dead parkway trees - so what is still standing in Glenview is overwhelmingly private: back yards in Swainwood and Glenbrook Countryside, property lines, and the wooded edges near Gallery Park and the Middlefork, where nobody sees a dead tree until a limb comes down.
How to tell it is ash
Opposite compound leaves with five to nine leaflets, and a diamond-pattern cross-hatched bark on healthy mature trunks. On a borer-killed ash the tells are unmistakable: bark falling off in sheets, S-shaped galleries scribbled on the exposed wood underneath, D-shaped exit holes about an eighth of an inch across, thick sprouting low on the trunk, and woodpecker damage high in the crown.
Ash on the North Shore
Ash was the default parkway and yard replacement after Dutch elm disease, which is exactly why the borer hit the North Shore so hard - whole streets were one species. Villages here have removed thousands of parkway ash over the last fifteen years and most have finished the public side. What is left standing is overwhelmingly on private property, behind houses, which is the hardest and least visible place to find a dead tree.
How ash fails
Dead ash is not like other dead trees. Standing dead ash loses its structural integrity much faster than oak or maple, and the failure mode is sudden limb drop in no particular weather. For a climber it is the worst case: wood that will not hold a rigging point and cannot be trusted underfoot, which is why a long-dead ash often has to be taken with a bucket or a crane and is priced accordingly. Waiting does not save money on an ash - it converts a removal into a crane job.
What we actually run into on Glenview ash jobs
This is the one Glenview removal where waiting actively costs money. A standing dead ash loses structural integrity far faster than oak or maple: within a couple of seasons the wood will not reliably hold a rigging point, which takes the job out of a climber's hands and into a bucket or a crane - a materially more expensive job on the same tree. Limbs also come off dead ash with no weather event to blame. On an open Glenview lot a dead ash is usually a straightforward drop-and-clear; the same tree against the house two years later is not.
Have it looked at - (847) 571-5688Caring for ash
Treatment only works on a tree that still has most of its canopy; past roughly a third of crown loss, injection is money spent on a tree that is already gone. If you have a healthy ash you want to keep, it is a repeating treatment every two to three years for the life of the tree, not a one-time fix. Every other ash should be scheduled for removal on your timetable rather than the storm's.
Ash work in Glenview
| Dead Ash Removal in Glenview | $1,500-$8,000 |
| Tree Removal in Glenview | $1,500-$8,000 |
| Crane-Assisted Removal in Glenview | $5,000-$20,000 |
| Stump Grinding in Glenview | $150-$800 |
Planning ranges for the North Shore, not quotes. On a Glenview lot, size and how a truck, chipper, or crane reaches the tree move the price far more than species does. Every job is walked and quoted in writing first.
Frequently asked - ash in Glenview
How urgent is a dead ash tree in Glenview?
More urgent than any other dead tree. Ash wood goes brittle quickly after the borer kills the tree, limbs shed without a storm to trigger them, and once the trunk cannot be trusted to hold a rigging point the removal needs a bucket or a crane instead of a climber. The price goes up the longer it stands, so the cheapest version of this job is the one done soonest.
Who removes a dead parkway ash in Glenview?
The village. Glenview Public Works is responsible for planting, maintenance, and removal of trees in the public right-of-way, and removes dead parkway trees. Call (847) 724-1700 to report one. If you are not sure whether a tree is on your property or the village's, Public Works will tell you - that question decides who pays.
Can my ash tree still be treated?
Only if it still has most of its canopy. Past roughly a third of crown loss, injection is money spent on a tree that is already gone. Treatment also is not a one-time fix - it repeats every two to three years for the life of the tree. For a healthy ash you genuinely want to keep, it works; for everything else the answer is a scheduled removal.
Sources
The Glenview permit, parkway, and planting-program facts on this page come from the village's own published pages, last read 2026-10-04. Ordinances change - the village is the authority, not this site.