MOOSE JAW — With Moose Jaw’s Dutch elm trees “struggling” because of disease, city hall is hoping that hiring two more forestry staff will enable crews to address symptomatic trees and remove dead wood promptly.
During a recent 2025 budget meeting, city council voted unanimously to allocate $72,356 to the community service department’s operating budget to expand staffing in the forestry division.
This funding will help the city provide a full-time, four-person crew for 30 weeks per year and a two-person crew for 22 weeks during the fall and winter, a budget report said. More staff — there is currently a two-person, year-round crew — would improve response times for service requests, shorten tree pruning cycles, enhance public safety, reduce property damage and promote the urban forest’s long-term health.
One two-person crew will focus on pruning and tree removals, while the other will focus on clean-up and mulching, stump removals, removing deadfall, planting trees, inspecting trees and updating tree inventories, the report added.
Coun. Heather Eby said it was “weird” and “sounds like an oxymoron” when talking about an urban forest in Moose Jaw. However, she pointed out that it takes work to grow an urban forest on the prairies and ensure it thrives.
“This (pruning) is something that the community will see and notice … because people appreciate the trees they have in their neighbourhood … ,” she added.
Tree data
The budget report noted that city hall has documented 10,811 of roughly 15,000 urban trees, with 761 (seven per cent) in poor health that required removal and replacement, while 3,423 (32 per cent) were in fair health and required maintenance to prevent further decline.
Meanwhile, based on the last four years of pruning, the city’s current pruning cycle is roughly 29 years, compared to other communities’ goal of five years, the report added.
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease (DED) represents the most significant threat to the health of Moose Jaw’s urban forest, and while such cases have increased over the past five years, they remain within “an acceptable threshold” of under one per cent affected annually, the report said.
Annual basal spraying has been important to control DED, as the chemical targets the bark beetles that spread the disease, the document continued. However, Health Canada phased out this chemical in 2023, leaving no viable alternative.
An increase in DED cases is anticipated without basal spraying, highlighting the need for more employees to address symptomatic trees promptly and remove dead wood, thereby reducing beetle habitats and mitigating the disease’s spread, the document added.
Derek Blais, director of community services, told council that the city had 85 cases of DED in 2023 and 103 cases last year. Meanwhile, city crews help Wakamow Valley Authority with disease control by identifying potentially infected elms, testing them and providing results. The authority’s crews then remove the infected trees.
He added that Valley crews conduct their own regular tree pruning and maintenance annually.
“Living 25 years in the Avenues, I love trees, and that’s why I live in the Avenues,” said Mayor James Murdock. “Even though I have to rake leaves, it’s still kind of soothing in its own way to do that.
“And to see squirrels running around (and) the first robins coming back, to me, our urban forest defines our city and we shouldn’t take it for granted,” he continued.
The mayor then inquired about the state of Moose Jaw’s Dutch elm population and whether it was holding its own or requiring the removal of more trees, pointing out that it’s difficult to recover from DED’s devastation.
Moose Jaw is doing “not very good” compared to other communities, as DED cases here are usually higher than in Regina or Saskatoon, said Blais. So, city hall is proactive in controlling the disease’s spread, including planting new tree species on certain streets so the beetles don’t wipe out an entire block.
“Our elm population … is struggling,” he added.
Coun. Patrick Boyle asked whether there were “any buckets of funding” to support these two new positions, pointing out that the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities had a resolution requesting financial support from the province for DED control.
Blais said he wasn’t aware of any provincial funding, although there have been discussions in the past. He noted that the province wants municipalities to enforce its legislation with Dutch elm disease without providing anything in return.
“So (extra funding) would be a discussion I would welcome with the province if ever there was an opportunity,” he said.
Blais was unsure what would happen if Moose Jaw failed to enforce provincial legislation, saying it’s an expectation that city hall has fulfilled over the years. He knew the legislation contained a fine option but didn’t know how it affected cities.
“But the biggest risk would be the majority of our trees are elms, and if we don’t enforce the regulations, we’ll lose a significant portion of our trees,” he added.
