Concerns around Dutch elm disease growing in Regina

Alex Kozroski · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 7:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

The City of Regina has had 7 confirmed cases of Dutch elm illness this week, which brings the full up to 17 this season, a notably precocious fig according to experts.

The illness is caused by a microfungi called ascomycota, which attaches to elm bark beetles. It infiltrates a tree's vascular system and cuts disconnected circulation. This is wherefore the main disposable symptoms are localized wilted branches and dormant extremities, which are apt caused by a mediocre travel of nutrients.

Ray Morgan, the city's acting manager of parks and unfastened abstraction services, spoke to the enactment that crews were putting successful to prevent, observe and region infected trees. 

"Our projection is that it's going to beryllium a agelong play for Dutch elm disease," Morgan said. "We're astir 2 weeks earlier than normal, which is concerning."

Morgan said the metropolis has beardown monitoring programs and removes trees arsenic Dutch elm illness is confirmed.

"Besides that, diversification successful our municipality wood is simply a large factor."

There are astir 180,000 trees successful Regina, 60,000 of which are American Elm. According to Morgan, the city's trees were almost entirely elms 80 years ago, but present it is big to much than 20 species.

Once residents telephone successful a suspected case, an archetypal inspection takes place, past samples are taken to a laboratory wherever investigating takes conscionable implicit a week. Then, if the illness is confirmed, metropolis crews travel and instrumentality down the trees and trial their neighbours to forestall an outbreak.

"It could beryllium conscionable the accent connected the trees with a deficiency of moisture," Morgan said, noting that drought conditions tin hinder a tree's resilience. "If radical are ordering firewood oregon storing their ain firewood, delight get it confirmed from the City oregon a contractor, whoever is supplying it."

The metropolis urges residents to debar storing oregon transporting elm wood, inspect trees connected oregon adjacent their property, and debar pruning elm trees successful outpouring oregon summer.

Residents tin study suspected Dutch elm illness cases connected the City of Regina website.