PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 31, 2025
This week, North Yarmouth downed approximately 80 ash trees in Baston Park that were infected with the emerald ash borer, a highly invasive wood-boring beetle that was killing the trees. The park was created in 2002 when Clark Baston’s parents Richard and Rosalyn Baston donated the land to the town. A small parcel located between the town’s larger Old Town House Park and Chandler Brook Preserve, it has been used by the public for fishing on the Royal River and picnicking in the shade of the ash trees. Now, stumps cover what is mostly an empty patch of grass. The town decided to act quickly both for the safety of the public and surrounding ash trees. “They’re dying, and the quicker you can get rid of it in one spot, the more chance you might have of the trees across the river still being okay.”