SCOUTING YESTERDAY | Elm tree beetle invasion sets up ash borer devastation
This week in South Dakota history: July 24-30
The majestic elm tree towered above American neighborhoods and lined city streets with picturesque canopies – until an invasive disease arrived and took that view away.
Fifty years ago this week, a former Canton resident had learned about a new way to fight the tree killer and was using it to try to save his elms, according to the July 29, 1976, edition of The Sioux Valley News.
A fungal disease spread by the elm bark beetle, Dutch elm disease spread from Europe to North America when it arrived with a lumber shipment sent to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931. Fungal spores are carried from an infected tree to a healthy tree on the beetles, or the disease is spread underground between tree roots that have grafted themselves together, according to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources.
