Prince Albert Dutch Elm Disease free so far

She said to date the city hasn’t had any issues concerning Dutch Elm Disease and that crews have not found any cases in the city.

Baker said Prince Albert has forestry crews who responded to any concerns residents have and that they follow provincial legislation that’s laid out for them.

“We do keep an eye out on our elm trees and obviously if we hear of any concerns about them we go out and inspect them. Should any concerns arise we will undertake testing and send it in to the Ministry of Agriculture in Regina just to confirm that there isn’t a problem or there is a problem.”

According to Baker the city’s forestry crews are always out and about and as a part of that crews try to keep an eye on things.

“That’s basically how provincial legislation is laid out. We don’t do regular inspections at the beginning of the season or anything because we do tend to be throughout the city throughout the year and do catch things if they are a concern,” she said.

DED has always been a concern for Prince Albert and that’s why city crews keep an eye on elm trees and abide by all provincial legislation such as the pruning ban and all of the other provincial requirements.

“It’s always a concern and certainly it concerns us when we hear it’s getting closer to the city. But right now we haven’t had an issues to date and so were just going to keep an eye on the elm trees and making sure we respond in a prompt manner to any concerns that are raised by residents.”

Brian Poniatowski is a forest, insect and disease specialist with the Government of Saskatchewan.

He said Dutch Elm spreads by the Elm Bark Beetle that carries the Dutch Elm Disease fungus from infected trees to healthy trees.

“It can spread quite quickly if it’s unmanaged. It can also spread by people moving infected firewood or other wood products,” Poniatowski said.

It’s still unclear how DED came to be in Saskatoon but Poniatowski said it’s more than likely someone bringing in infected firewood but that’s unconfirmed at this point.

In terms of preventative measures Poniatowski said, “[Prince Albert] would be responsible for beetle managing and having a management plan. The best thing is just the education of getting people to realize the importance of not transporting firewood into the city and being aware of trees that look like they might be infected.”

DED is a fungus that gets into a tree and prevents water from flowing up into the crown so the leaves begin to wilt, turn yellow and dry up brown.

When the fungus spreads throughout the tree it starts to affect more and more branches and can kill a tree in two to three weeks.

Poniatowski said Dutch Elm Disease is very common in the eastern side of the province and has been for a number of years.

The disease has never appeared in Prince Albert with the closest case coming out of Choiceland.

“The best thing is to monitor elms in the city and do surveys to inspect them for symptoms of the disease and to be aware of people bringing in wood and the other thing is respecting the pruning ban.”

From April 1 to Aug. 31 there is a provincial elm tree pruning ban because the beetle that carries the disease can be attracted to those fresh cuts.

Poniatowski said there is legislation in place that makes it illegal to transport elm wood anywhere in the province.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

by Sarah Wallace

Prince Albert Dutch Elm Disease free so far

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