A New Jersey city is giving the axe to thousands of ash trees to help fight off the invasive emerald ash borer beetle.

As CBSN New York’s Charlie Cooper found out Thursday, not all residents may like the idea, but it’s likely necessary.

Ash trees make up about a fifth of the trees in Montclair, but the city said it plans to cut down 2,000 of them, whether they’re infected or not.

It’s a way to fight off emerald ash borer beetles that have already attacked dozens of trees in the area. Arborists say the likelihood of an uninfected tree being impacted is very high.

Cooper spoke to Montclair State University biology professor Dirk Vanderklein, who said the best bet is to cut them down despite some neighbors wanting to keep them around for beauty purposes.

“There or some insecticides that could be used, but that’s very expensive,” Vanderklein said. “So there’s a trade off. Do you want the city to spend a lot of money on an insecticide that may or may not kill off the insect? You’d have to basically treat all the trees in the town.”

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