A tree dedicated to “The Officers of the Forever Scotland Camp” along the Memorial Avenue of Trees at Saskatoon’s Woodlawn Cemetery is being removed.
The removal was necessitated after the tree tested positive for the invasive Dutch elm disease (DED) earlier this week, the City of Saskatoon announced Thursday.
DED spreads via two kinds of fungi that can block a tree from conducting water, which eventually kills the plant, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The CFIA says all American elm species are considered highly susceptible to the contagious disease. It spreads when an infected tree’s roots make contact with another, healthy tree.
“The city has taken measures to try to protect these trees as much as possible, as much as practical. That includes increase surveillance, rapid removal of trees that are infected, as well as (the) inoculation of some trees,” said the city’s park director, Thai Hoang at a news conference.
“(Tree removal is) something we do with a heavy heart. And it is something that hits us pretty hard here at the city.”
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Hoang said other trees at the site will be re-inspected and tested, if necessary, to ensure they are not also infected.
The Memorial Avenue of Trees at the Saskatoon cemetery was initially installed to honour the more than 66,000 Canadian troops who died during the First World War.
“A tree is a symbol of the triumph of life over death. Trees, like soldiers, serve beyond their lives,” said the City of Saskatoon’s archivist, Jeff O’Brien.
In recent years, the memorial included dedications to soldiers lost in newer conflicts, including the Second World War and the Korean War, O’Brien said, describing the Memorial Avenue of Trees as “an ongoing celebration” of the service members.
The tree that is being cut down was dedicated by the Daughters of Scotland. It was the 19th tree to be planted at the site, the city archivist added.
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Created in 1922, the first memorial service at Woodlawn Cemetery was hosted in June of 1923. Saskatoon city council promised the advocates who pushed for the memorial that if a tree comes down, another must be planted in its place more than 100 years ago.
Hoang said the city intends on keeping that promise, as it has previously when trees were removed.
The replacement tree will not be an elm, he said.
Approximately 2,100 of the trees at the Woodlawn Cemetery are elm. Hoang estimated 112 of those go along Memorial Avenue.
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