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On Friday, representatives of the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) gathered around a tree planted more than 100 years ago to celebrate Arbor Day.
“It’s a day for us to cherish our trees, to preserve our trees, to plant new trees and promote the upkeep of our current trees,” said the PCC’s Derek Barr.
He stood in front of an American elm tree that was planted by botanist and groundskeeper George Watt in the Queen Elizabeth II East Garden in 1913.
“So that’s 110 years it’s been on this site and before that it was transplanted from Government House. So we’re not quite sure how old it was when it was planted at Government House but we can assume this is about a 120-year-old tree,” he said.
“We love our elm trees here in the City of Regina. We don’t know how long they’re going to live yet. This one is 120 years old and still growing strong. We’re hoping to have trees reach 200-plus years (of age) in the long term.”
Barr said American elms grow all over the northern hemisphere and can live up to more than 300 years.
However, he said it’s not known just how long they might live in Regina.
“This would be an example of the oldest elm tree in the City of Regina, so we still have to wait and see how long they can live here,” Barr said.
The province declared Arbor Week to run until Sunday; Arbor Day was Friday.
The urban forest of Wascana is home to more than 50,000 trees, according to the provincial government.
“We’ve got such an oasis within the middle of the city and we’re so proud and so honoured to be able to care for and tend to it for our current generations, and for our future generations as well,” said Jenna Schroeder, the executive director of the PCC.
Saskatchewan’s Arbor Day celebration usually includes a tree-planting ceremony but a tree was not planted during the event.
Schroeder said trees will continue to be planted in Wascana throughout the season.
Dutch elm disease
Barr said Dutch elm disease is the most catastrophic disease in Wascana’s forest.
“We’ve only ever had two Dutch elm disease cases in the park,” Barr said. “The city has more elm trees, but they get about 15 to 20 (cases) every year. So I think we’ve done a very diligent job with our pruning program to keep our trees healthy and prevent that.”
Barr said he’s seen an increase in bark beetles, which are carriers of the disease.
“To counter that we’ve been injecting a fungicide into our large high-value elm trees,” Barr said. “We inject a fungicide directly into the root collar and that prevents the tree from being able to be susceptible to Dutch elm disease for three to five years.”
Hypoxylon canker is another major disease that Barr and his team are watching for.
“I feel (hypoxylon canker) is going through the whole city and really doing a number (on our) maturing poplar trees — not our cottonwood trees per se, but all the other hybrid species which seem to max out at about 40 years of life,” he said.
Barr said the drought helped the disease establish itself in the urban canopy.