Photo submitted by John Knisley Art like this could be coming to local ash trees soon, after City Planner John Knisley presented a plan from CALA Contemporary Woodwork at Tuesday’s City Council Work Session.

NEW ULM – The current ash tree problem has led one group to come up with an idea.

CALA Contemporary Woodwork in New Ulm came to City Planner John Knisley with a plan to turn dead ash trees into art throughout the city. Knisley presented this idea at the City Council Work Session Tuesday.

“Rather than just cutting down all these trees immediately, have a bare stump, and then replant right away, maybe we could use this as an opportunity to honor those trees and provide a little artwork in some of our neighborhoods,” he said.

The city would cut down sections of the ash trees and the bark stripped off, leaving a manageable but sizeable amount of trees left.

“Local artists, families, companies and various community groups can adopt, paint, carve, and decorate,” Knisley said. “This will accumulate in a stunning outdoor gallery that celebrates creativity and commemorates the ash trees we are losing.”

Knisley said parts of the plan are flexible. If the city is not able to work on the trees, he said the cost could be placed elsewhere like on the company painting the tree. CALA brought this to City Council to find out if the city was ok with the usage of boulevard ash trees and other areas where ash trees are visible.

On top of beautification, CALA believes this project could put New Ulm in the spotlight.

“This would garner national attention,” Knisley said. “This is pretty unique in what they’re proposing to do and could provide a lot more focus on New Ulm and the creativity we have here.”

Mayor Kathleen Backer asked how long each tree would stay. Knisley said only one year, after which it would be taken down and another tree replanted as they do anyway.

Councilor Les Schultz said it reminded him of the decorated fire hydrant project the city was involved in.

“We started that project and everybody was like, ‘No, we can’t do that,'” he said [But it was a] unique thing we got a lot of publicity over.”

City Manager Chris Dalton said there would be a licensing agreement to ensure rules are enforced for the trees, like no profanity or advertising.

Schultz asked if any art folks in town had been contacted about this yet. Knisley said The Grand is interested in the project and could get involved if it does go forward.

The proposal has not gone in front of any boards for approval yet, as it is currently only an idea CALA wanted to pitch to city council before any more work and time were invested.

Backer said the idea has potential and is unique.

“It’s making lemonade out of lemons,” she said, “To be creative [with] something devastating us, as far as the loss of our tree population.”