Dutch elm disease cases climb as Regina removes infected trees

A towering elm, that shaded one Regina street for decades, came down Wednesday morning, as the city continued its fight against Dutch elm disease, a problem officials say is no longer rare.

The tree had one of 26 confirmed cases of Dutch elm disease in Regina so far this year. While that number is lower than the 87 cases recorded in all of 2025, city officials say it’s tracking to almost exactly where last year’s outbreak stood at this point in the season.

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“We got the results in on Monday, and here we are today removing it,” said Ashley Thompson, manager of urban forestry for the City of Regina.

City forestry crews first noticed what arborists call “flagging”, a section of the tree where leaves begin wilting, turning yellow or brown while remaining attached to the branch.

“So you will see flagging on one limb and it kind of works its way up where the leaves will wilt and brown, but they’ll hang on to the tree,” Thompson said.

“The city crews will then take a sample and submit it to the provincial lab for testing.”

Once a sample reaches the provincial laboratory, technicians grow the fungus before confirming whether the tree is infected.

Regina has roughly 180,000 city-owned trees. Thompson said Dutch elm disease has become increasingly common after years of relatively low numbers.

“It is getting worse,” she said. “The last few years, it’s really jumped. We were at kind of 20 a year, and it jumped to 85 in 2024, 87 last year, and this year so far we’re at 26 positives.”

The city believes several factors are contributing to the increase.

“We have theories,” Thompson said. “Climate change is likely a big factor. Milder winters. We did have a couple wetter springs, which helps the fungus grow, and the mild winters help the beetle survive.”

She added that the city is seeing cases in all areas of the city, although the highest concentration remains in older, central neighbourhoods, where mature elm trees are most common.

The disease is spread by elm bark beetles that carry the fungus from tree to tree.

“It’s a tiny, tiny little beetle that bores its way into the bark, and that’s how it carries the virus kind of on its back,” Thompson said.

Once a tree tests positive, removal is the only option. The wood is taken directly to Regina’s landfill and buried to prevent infected beetles from spreading elsewhere.

The city estimates removing a diseased tree can cost from about $1,000 to as much as $10,000, depending on its size, with the work paid for through Regina’s forestry budget.

Although infected trees are replaced, Thompson said new elms are generally not planted in the same location.

“We will plant a variety of different species,” she said. “Maples or lindens are good options.”

For longtime resident Jim Hunter, watching the elm disappear was bittersweet.

Hunter has lived on the street since the early 1970s and estimates the tree was already about a decade old when his family moved in.

“They’re going to plant another one,” he said. “But it will never be that size in my lifetime.”

Growing up in Manitoba, Hunter remembers seeing Dutch elm disease reshape entire communities.

“It would be a shame for Regina because of all of the elms that we have,” he said. “The trees have arched across the streets, and it’s like driving through a tunnel. That’s what you see everybody taking pictures of.”

Hunter and his wife were the first to notice something was wrong with the tree outside their home after leaves began falling far earlier than normal.

“When you start getting leaves falling off in June and July, as opposed to September, something’s wrong,” he said.

He hopes other residents pay attention to the warning signs and contact the city when something looks unusual.

“It would be a very big benefit to the city if people, when they see something that could be a concern, call it in so they can go and look at it,” Hunter said. “If you miss one, there’s going to be a lot more disease spread from it.”

The city is also reminding residents not to store or transport elm wood, to avoid pruning elm trees during Saskatchewan’s annual pruning ban, and to report suspected infections by contacting Service Regina.