City of Saskatoon removing memorial tree stricken by Dutch elm disease

The Memorial Avenue of Trees at Woodlawn Cemetery has tested positive to Dutch Elm Disease (DED). The memorial tree will be removed immediatly.

City of Saskatoon removing memorial tree stricken by Dutch elm disease Memorial Avenue of Trees was established at Woodlawn Cemetery in 1923 The City of Saskatoon is removing one of the memorial trees at Woodlawn Cemetery after it tested positive for Dutch elm disease (DED). The city says the tree must be taken down immediately to prevent the spread of the disease. The Memorial Avenue of Trees was established at Woodlawn in the spring of 1923 by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE), to give families a way to mourn fallen soldiers who were not able to come home.

“These trees gave us a chance to make our mourning personal,” said city archivist Jeff O’Brian. “It was hugely important when they opened.” It began with 266 trees.

Every year since then, new trees have been dedicated. Today, it has 1,200 trees that stretch all through the cemetery. The infected tree was dedicated to the officers of the Forever Scotland Camp by the Daughters of Scotland organization.

O’Brien said 8,000 people attended the first dedication ceremony when the memorial opened in 1923. “That's a third of the population of Saskatoon,” he said. “That's how important this was to the people who lived here.”

The idea was to do something beyond static, stone memorial graves. “What better than a tree, right? A tree is a symbol of the triumph of life over death.

Trees, like soldiers, serve beyond their lives,” O’Brien said. This type of memorial became popular across the country, O’Brien said, and Saskatoon's was named a national historic site in 1992. Thai Hoang, Saskatoon's director of parks, said the positive DED result for the memorial tree came early this week.

He said the city must take immediate action. “This is a difficult action for us,” said Hoang. “It's something that we do with a heavy heart, as these trees mean a lot to the community.”

Hoang said the parks department is following the direction of city council and will replace the tree. “It's a really beloved part of our community,” he said. “There's folks in the city that will take this loss very seriously.”

While all original trees at the memorial are elms, Hoang said the replacement would be a different species. The number of reported DED cases has quickly increased in Saskatchewan over the last few years. A provincial pruning ban is in effect until Aug. 31, in an attempt to control the spread.

The parks department is also asking the public to take measures, such as not storing, transporting, pruning or burning elm wood, and disposing of it at the city landfill. Anyone who suspects a tree has been infected with DED is asked to contact the city. With files from Maeve Ellis