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This week
DAR R E L L N E SBIT T / CR O SSR O ADS T H IS W E E K Braeden Clarke was among the Rivers Comets batters to be stymied by Oak River Dodgers starting pitcher Anthony Friesen, working in association with catcher Aiden Lewis, in the opening game of the South West Baseball League North Division final played Thursday, July 16, in Oak River. The Dodgers won game one 6-0, with the Comets evening up the series with a 5-0 win in Rivers on Sunday, July 19.
D utch elm disea se survey underw a y a cross region RAC HEAL FLIN TO FT Cro ssro a d s This W e e k
Provincial forestry crews will be in municipalities across the region this month, including the Municipality of Russell Binscarth and Prairie View Municipality (PVM), checking trees and firewood piles for signs of Dutch elm disease. Russell Binscarth has confirmed that surveyors will be out in the community from July 23 to
26, arriving in government marked vehicles, wearing high visibility vests, and carrying government ID. PVM also posted a notice directly by the Manitoba government, stating that Dutch elm disease surveys and emerald ash borer monitoring are underway again this season. Inspectors will be driving or walking public and private properties, looking for infected trees and elm firewood with bark still attached, since that
wood spreads the disease and is illegal to store. They may work evenings and weekends, and staff will not always approach a resident before entering a property. Doorbells get rung, or doors knocked, before any branch sample is taken, or tree marked. None of this is new, however. The province has run a management program under The Forest Health Protection Act for close to 50 years, and 38 communities across Manitoba, including many
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in this region, still sign on for annual surveys because the alternative is losing the trees outright. Native elm bark beetles carry the fungus from tree to tree as they feed in the canopy or burrow near the trunk base, and an infected elm can also pass the disease through touching roots to a healthy neighbour. What is at stake locally is the tree canopy itself. Mature elms take decades to grow, and they provide shade, windbreaks, and
wildlife habitat that a young replacement tree cannot replicate for years. Once a tree is confirmed infected, removal is usually the only option since there is no cure once the fungus has spread through the vascular system. Both notices reminded residents that elms could not be pruned until after July 31, since fresh cuts attract the bark beetles that carry the disease.
SEE SU R VE Y , PAGE 2