June 25, 2026
With summer camping season underway, the City of Edmonton reminds residents to “burn it where you buy it.” Bark beetles that spread Dutch elm disease can hitch a ride on firewood and put Edmonton’s urban forest at risk, including many tree-lined streets in mature neighbourhoods. Residents should leave firewood behind and avoid bringing it home from other communities.
Preserving Edmonton’s urban forest is a shared responsibility. There are three ways residents can help keep our urban forest healthy and prevent the spread of Dutch elm disease:
1. Do not move firewood.
- Beetles that spread Dutch elm disease are commonly introduced to Edmonton through firewood.
2. Remove bark beetle habitat.
- Follow provincial pruning ban guidelines. Residents can only prune dead, dying and diseased elm tree branches from October 1 to March 31.
- Dispose of elm wood immediately by burning it or taking it to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.
- Do not combine elm wood with food scraps or other collected waste.
3. If you see signs of Dutch elm disease, call 311.
- From June to July, leaves on one or more branches of an infected elm tree may wilt, droop and curl. Infected leaves usually turn brown and stay on the tree.
- Elm trees infected later in the summer will have leaves that droop, turn yellow and drop prematurely. It is easy to confuse these late-season infections with normal seasonal colour changes.
- Peeling back the bark on infected twigs reveals brown staining in the sapwood.
