Mandan elm trees being hit hard by fatal fungus

American elm trees in Mandan are being hit hard by a fatal fungus carried by the European elm bark beetle.

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — American elm trees in Mandan are being hit hard by a fatal fungus carried by the European elm bark beetle.

The Bismarck Tribune reports that officials this year have marked 92 trees on city property and 26 privately owned trees for removal. Some of them are on Sixth Avenue, where elms line both sides of the street, creating a picturesque canopy overhead.

Officials speculate that the warm winter helped the beetles flourish. Many elms in the nearby Heart River bottoms also have the fungus, increasing the infection rate in the city.

Mandan had about 5,000 American elms in the 1970s. It has 1,500 or fewer now.

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Tags: news, trees, environment

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