ROCHESTER — Rochester will remove 400 ash trees damaged in a storm last month because they are more susceptible to the destructive emerald ash borer.

City forester Jacob Ryg said residents who don’t want to lose a tree tagged for removal can pay for the cost of chemical treatments to try to preserve the tree, as opposed to having the city pay to replace the tree.

Other Midwestern states have taken similar preventative measures by cutting down weakened ash trees. Ryg said those states have suffered the loss of millions of trees to the emerald ash borer and their budgets have been exhausted by dead-tree removal.

He said Rochester has reduced its population of boulevard ash trees by 3,000 over the last eight years.