REGINA – Farmers shouldn’t assume they won’t be hit by the Dutch elm disease scourge that is terrifying prairie cities, experts say.
“Everybody’s in jeopardy here, it’s not just the trees in the city,” said Tim Loran of the provincial environment department.
“The trees in your yard, the trees in your shelterbelts are all vulnerable.”
Dutch elm disease, which kills American elms, has been spreading across North America, from east to west. Large parts of Manitoba have been hit by the lethal, beetle-borne fungus and the disease has spread well into Saskatchewan, along thickly elmed river valleys.
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But Saskatchewan control specialists hope the disease can be slowed and controlled before it manages to escape the valleys for shelterbelts, farmyards, small towns and cities.
The area around the Souris River, in southeastern Saskatchewan, is already heavily infected, said provincial Dutch elm disease specialist Garry Carter.
Other areas threatened include those flanking the Qu’Appelle Valley in east-central Saskat-chewan and the Carrot River Valley in the northeastern region.
The natural extent of American elms ends about 200 kilometres west of the Manitoba border, but the plague could spread beyond there, since pioneers and city designers across Western Canada have planted American elms for shade and beauty.
If the disease-carrying beetle is able to get out of the valleys and into farms, towns and cities, it could destroy hundreds of thousands of trees, Carter said.
The beetles can move around some distance by themselves, but are unlikely to make vast strides out of their native range unless aided by humans. Carter said many people unknowingly help the beetles spread by bringing elm firewood out of river valleys.
Carter and Loran said with quick reaction much of the potential damage can be avoided or mitigated. Rather than every elm in Saskatchewan being wiped out in five years, with the proper program most can live for up to 30 years.
Any trees hit by the disease could be replaced by new ones and be almost fully grown by the time the old ones succumbed.
