Elm tree pruning ban lifts October 1 |
September 29, 2026
Edmontonians can resume elm tree pruning on October 1, as the provincial pruning ban is lifted until March 31, 2027. Pruning deadwood from elms keeps trees healthy while eliminating habitat for the bark beetles that spread Dutch elm disease (DED).
Proper disposal of pruned elm wood is vital to limiting the spread of DED. Residents should immediately burn the wood or take it to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre for free disposal. Storing elm wood is prohibited.
Since Dutch elm disease was detected in Edmonton in 2024, the City has implemented a management plan to contain the spread of the fungal disease. So far this year, City crews have conducted 168,900 tree inspections and identified 10 new cases of DED. All infected trees have been safely removed. A total of 17 cases of DED have been identified since 2024.
When the annual ban is lifted, City crews will resume pruning elm trees on boulevards and in parks and open spaces. With approximately 90,000 elm trees representing 22 per cent of Edmonton’s Open Space and Boulevard Tree Inventory, the spread of DED poses a significant threat to the health and resilience of the urban forest.
The City of Edmonton, in coordination with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Alberta Plant Health Laboratory, continues to assess and test trees showing potential symptoms, while proactively pruning and removing unhealthy trees to reduce beetle habitat.
What residents can do to save elm trees
Containing the spread of Dutch elm disease is a community effort. There are three ways residents can help stop the spread of the disease:
1. Do not move firewood.
- Beetles that carry Dutch elm disease are commonly introduced to Edmonton through firewood, so always “burn it where you buy it.”
- It is prohibited under provincial and municipal regulations to possess or store elm wood in Edmonton.
2. Remove bark beetle habitat.
- Follow provincial pruning ban guidelines. Residents can only prune dead, dying and diseased branches from privately owned elm trees from October 1 to March 31, 2027.
- 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 the following 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.
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