A few hundred trees will be removed around the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis this year: Lake Harriet, Bde Maka Ska -- also known as Calhoun -- Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is taking down the ash trees along the Chain of Lakes to battle the Emerald Ash Borer. The city told KSTP they're removing the ash trees and replacing them with different types of trees.

The trees that will be removed and replaced this summer are right along the water's edge.

'The reason we're focusing on the ash tree there is because they're close to a path where either pedestrians or bicycles are. Because eventually when Emerald Ash Borer kills the tree, and the tree is dead, it poses a real risk to the public,' said Ralph Sievert. of the Park and Recreation Board.

The department is working ahead by removing ash trees before they're structurally unstable because of the invasive bugs. A few hundred trees will be removed this year -- starting with the ones around Lake Harriet. But that shouldn't cause any worry.

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'You aren't going to see a big, long, expansive openness. You're still going to have a lot of trees that are in between the trees we're removing,' said Sievert.

They considered treating the ash trees, but the department said it would only prolong the tree's life, not cure it from infestation. The goal is to finish the next batch of ash trees before the end of summer.

The eight-year project started in 2014 when the city found over 40,000 ash trees that were likely affected by the Emerald Ash Borer.