Edmonton planting new trees to replace those impacted by Dutch Elm Disease

Yellow STOPDED (Society to Prevent Dutch Elm Disease) tape is wrapped around a tree in this undated file photo.

More trees are being removed in parts of Edmonton to prevent Dutch Elm Disease from spreading.

City parks crews identified four trees in central Edmonton with symptoms of the deadly disease late last month.

City staff believe tiny beetles carrying the fungus came to Edmonton in firewood.

The disease is spread through those beetles, or from roots overlapping underground.

Signs of Dutch Elm Disease include drooping and yellowing leaves in the summer, or brown leaves that stay on the tree.

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The four diseased trees are now gone, and crews removed 21 others nearby out of caution.

They're being replaced by different varieties of trees.

"Oak, maple, linden, these are some trees that have shown an ability to thrive within Edmonton, and it's important to note that we're not just planting for our current climate, we're also planting for what we can project our future climate to be," Mark Beare of the city said Wednesday.

Edmonton has more than 90,000 elms, mostly in older neighbourhoods.

The city is asking people to check elms on private property for signs of the disease and report symptomatic trees to 311.

You can take elm wood to the city's waste management centre for free, or burn it.