Brandon burning hundreds of trees due to Dutch Elm Disease

City of Winnipeg crews work to cut down an 80-year-old elm tree on Downing Street on March 23, 2021. (Source: Mason DePatie/CTV News Winnipeg)

Hundreds of trees in Brandon are being cut down and burned due to Dutch Elm Disease, though the city says it has had to remove far fewer trees than it has in past years.

Since Monday, the City of Brandon has been doing a controlled burn of elm tree debris that has been infected by the Dutch Elm Disease.

The city said it is removing about 600 Elm trees as a part of its 2022-23 Dutch Elm Disease control program. Most of those trees are dead or diseased, and are being removed along the Assiniboine River Corridor.

Stephen Clark, the charge hand for the city's forestry and horticulture department, told CTV News about 225 trees were removed from inside the city – in areas including parks, boulevards and private property – and about 375 were removed from bush areas within the riverbank area.

"Statistically speaking, it's actually significantly dropped," Clark said, adding the city's Dutch elm tree removals peaked in 2016-17 when they removed around 1,300 trees. "It just seems to be going down since our peak in 2016-17."

As for what has caused the drop in tree removals, he said the city's Dutch Elm control program may be partially playing a part.

"The other side of things is, we've had a few rough years for trees, we've experienced a lot of drought," he said. "What happens is that then the elm trees tend to not show their symptoms as much, which then reduces the amount of trees that get marked."

Clark said the city burns the trees to avoid any further spread of the disease. He said the other option is to chip the trees, haul the debris to a city sanitation site and bury it.

The City of Winnipeg told CTV News each year it removes about 8,000 American elms through the Dutch Elm Disease Management Program.

"Where possible, elm debris is chipped and utilized for a variety of projects, including park path maintenance, soil fabrication, and for our tree nursery operations," a city spokesperson told CTV News in an email.

Due to the disease and how easily it can spread, Clark said there are rules from the province for the management of trees that are infected. You can find more info about the signs, symptoms and management of Dutch Elm Disease online.

The controlled burn is expected to be completed by Friday, March 3. Residents are asked to stay away from the Crystal Pits on Victoria Avenue East until the controlled burning is done.