Help Save Our Elms!

A fundraising project to preserve our elm canopies on Westminster and Wolseley Avenues by the Wolseley Resident Association - Tree Committee.

The Wolseley neighbourhood has long been known and loved for its beautiful canopy of mature elms, particularly on our gateway streets — Wolseley and Westminster. Over the past few years, we have noticed tree after tree marked and cut down due to Dutch Elm Disease (DED). Currently, about 20 elms are being killed by DED each year due to DED.

If nothing is done, there will be no elms left on these streets in 10 years.

BUT something is being done!

This spring the TREE COMMITTEE of the Wolseley Residents Association, launched “SAVE OUR ELMS” — a project to preserve the elms on our two main streets.

PHASE 1 is UNDERWAY: Our neighbourhood campaign in June & July raised $27,000. In addition, we received a $5000 grant from Assiniboine Credit Union; Green Drop generously offered a discount on inoculating and have supported us financially. All told, we raised enough to inoculate over 56 of the 165 elm trees on Wolseley and Westminster. Arborists, the City Forestry Branch, and committee members chose a section of trees on Wolseley that would help ensure success for a “partial inoculation”. This type of root inoculation/protection lasts for a 3-year period.

PHASE 2 is planned for this Fall (2025). We will launch a neighbourhood business campaign; and will seek more grant funding. The goal of Phase 2 is to inoculate the remaining healthy elms on Wolseley and Westminster.

This “Save the Elms” initiative is the first part of the WRA’s Urban Forest Strategy for Wolseley that aims to

preserve the mature elm canopy,

slow the rate of DED tree mortality and, in turn,

provide time for replanted trees to grow under a mature tree canopy.

The strategy will focus on a 10-year period from 2025 to 2035, with inoculations occurring every 3 years. Community support got the project started, and we aim to secure long-range funding to support the project.

Take a walk down either of these street, appreciate the big, beautiful elms and think about our neighbourhood without them. Then...

Donate today! Make a donation of your choosing towards this project. OR...

Adopt a tree! - It costs about $700 to inoculate one tree.