Disease threatens town’s elms

Dutch elm disease has reached Digby and the prognosis is grim: The town may lose all its stately elms over the next decade.

The devastating disease was spotted in a tree on Queen Street, near Prince William. Its mostly bare branches and the patches of yellow leaves among the remaining greenery were a tip-off. “This is the first time it has materialized,” says town works department official Bruce Murley. “There’s a guy wire on the tree. As soon as Nova Scotia Power can get the wire off, it’s coming down.”

Murley says arborist Jay Stone brought the tree to his attention, along with the diagnosis of Dutch elm disease. “I’m really sorry to see it,” said Stone. “It’s worked its way around Nova Scotia and is finally here. In five to 10 years, there won’t be a Dutch elm left in this part of Nova Scotia—except maybe for perhaps small pockets. That’ll be it.”

Stone, who moved here from the southern U.S. two decades ago, recalls seeing Dutch elm disease in trees in Bangor and St. Stephen when he came north. “There’s nothing good I can tell you. It has finally reached here, and Bear River and it’s in Yarmouth.”

Digby needs to undertake a tree-planting program, he said. “The town is in bad shape. Annapolis Royal has started its program.”

Dutch elm disease is a fungus spread by beetles that visit infected trees and then visit healthy ones, or by airborne fungus spores, or by infected roots that come in contact with nearby trees. “One of the biggest mistakes people make,” Stone said, “is to plant a line of trees along a road all of the same species. One gets it, then the next gets it and then the next gets it. It’s the domino effect.”

Digby mayor Frank Mackintosh is concerned that the town might be denuded of elm trees within a short time, and said the town will check with the province’s Natural Resources to see what steps need to be taken. “If we have to cut them down, we have to.”

Mackintosh agrees the elms will have to be replaced, and preferably by good sized trees. “Something has to be there.”

Town council only recently disbanded its tree committee.