City confirms 2 cases of tree-killing Dutch elm disease, maintenance zones expand

Elm tree canopies can be seen in Edmonton in May 2024, just months before four cases of Dutch elm disease were confirmed in the city. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

The City of Edmonton has confirmed and removed two cases of Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease deadly to trees.

Those cases mark the eighth and ninth trees with confirmed infections since 2024, when arborists first detected the problem in Edmonton.

The two elm trees, one each in the Northmount and Rossdale neighbourhoods, were both on city property.

Both were in decline and proactively removed in order to contain the spread and maintain the health of the city’s forest.

The Northmount neighbourhood tree was in an established Dutch elm disease protocol zone, which are areas where the disease was previously confirmed to signal a need for more assessments and maintenance.

Both that tree and the one in the Rossdale neighbourhood now have a one-kilometre radius protocol zone around them.

The fungal infection is spread by bark beetles to nearby elms and poses a “significant threat to Edmonton’s urban forest, where elm trees make up 22 per cent of the city’s Open Space and Boulevard Tree Inventory,” according to the city.

Residents are reminded to not move firewood and to “burn it where you buy it,” as well as to follow provincial pruning bans and waste disposal methods.

Signs of Dutch elm disease in your neighbourhood – i.e. wilting leaves in June and July – should be called in to 311.