Each municipality is to appoint a pest control officer. It is the duty of this officer to ensure that diseased elm trees are removed. The first step in any effective control program is an accurate assessment of the risks. The starting point therefore is a determination of the number and location of elm trees in the province. Almost every town in Saskatchewan has elm trees, but we have no way of knowing how many trees there are, or exactly where they are located.
Tree health is a second major factor.
Trees which are unhealthy for any reason provide ideal breeding grounds for the beetles, and excellent home for the fungus to become established. This means that all unhealthy elms must be pruned to reduce the number of sites of possible infection. Proper preventive care involves pruning not only for the removal of dead wood but also to improve the trees structure and improving light penetration in the interior branches. Citizens can check with their local government to ensure that a pest control officer has been appointed for their municipality. In Saskatchewan, the cities have appointed pest control officers but many rural municipalities, even those where Dutch elm disease is already a problem no such individual has been appointed.