The City of Saskatoon says since it announced on September 15th that there was a confirmed case of Dutch elm disease in a tree near the city’s Montgomery neighbourhood, they have found 13 tonnes of improperly stored elm wood.

Inspectors have issued 71 infraction notices and removed 13,000 kilograms of elm wood from private property. The upside is that since that since 20 additional trees were sampled they did not find additional positive test results.

However, inspectors did find several instances where wood was moved from elsewhere with elm bark beetle activity in the wood. Jeff Boone the city’s Entomologist says infected firewood is the most likely way that Dutch Elm Disease would be brought into Saskatoon.