Two Elm trees tower majestically over nearby houses and streets, a testament to their age and durability.
Both of these American Elms are this year’s winners of the Guelph Urban Forest Friends (GUFF) 2024 Notable Tree Award.
According to GUFF, the trees exemplify the description of the award, that is ‘a noble tree, cherished by the community for its heritage value and is a fine example of its species.'
GUFF is a group of citizens who work through education and advocacy, to maintain and increase the health, integrity and area of Guelph’s urban forest. Members believe that the ecological and social benefits that trees provide offer immense value to everyone.
GUFF chair Sue Rietschin said the trees are beloved icons in their neighbourhoods: one located at 63 Alice St. in The Ward, and the other at the corner of Bagot and London streets in the Onward Willow area.
“We are thrilled to be choosing those two elms. They are quite iconic,” Rietschin said.
“The enormous 'Alice Street Elm,' a boundary tree in The Ward, is a survivor in an urban landscape that would have claimed the lives of many other less vigorous trees. It is just incredible. The leaf cover that it provides, despite being surrounded by houses, pavement and pruning for hydro, it has endured. It keeps going.”
And, Rietschin said, the magnificent elm on the property at the west end of London Street, a city-owned tree, is the reason the owner purchased the home.
Despite many Elms being claimed by Dutch elm disease starting in the mid-1900s, these two trees have survived and continue to shade their neighbourhoods with their marvelous canopies, while they sequester carbon and provide habitat for many creatures.
The presence of these surviving elm trees in Guelph appear to have a natural genetic tolerance to the disease. Rietschin said this is especially significant as The Arboretum at the University of Guelph is the home of the Elm Recovery Project.
"In the 1990s, the late Henry Kock started collecting samples from many of these survivor trees, both in Guelph and across southern Ontario. These samples were tested to identify 'disease-tolerant' individuals. A gene bank of clones of these survivors now grow in a seed orchard where they share pollen and produce seeds to maintain genetic diversity and strengthen the species’ gene pool," Rietschin said.
"Through future distribution of trees tested at the arboretum, these remarkable trees will grow and cross-pollinate to produce many more beautiful, disease-tolerant elms to grace our landscape in the years to come."
To learn more about the project and the Henry Kock Tree Recovery Endowment, visit here.
Rietschin said GUFF will install plaques at the sites of this year's winning trees in the spring as well as encourage any citizens with beloved trees to submit them as candidates for 2025 between March and May through a form on the GUFF website.
"I think it’s very important that we honour trees so that people can become aware of the importance of mature trees in the canopy. And the Notable Tree Award recognizes trees that has some significance to the community. Often, people walk by these wonderful big trees, and love them," Rietschin said.
"This is a way to bring everyone together as a community to honour them and draw other people’s attention to the importance of these big trees in our community."
