Usually, around this time of year, the snow has melted, and people are getting ready to enjoy the rest of spring, but mother nature decided to change that.

One thing that hasn't changed due to the weather is that the Elm tree pruning ban has been put in place.

Swift Current Parks Manager Andy Toth says that the ban is designed to keep the Elm beetle and Dutch Elm Disease in check.

"The reason for the ban is that this is the time that the elm beetle is active," he said. "They are attracted to fresh pruning cuts."

The ban goes until August 31.

If someone is caught pruning during the ban, they could be fined $2,000 or more.

Toth says there hasn't been a reported case of Dutch elm disease in Swift Current in a long time.

"There hasn't been anything here and just outside of Swift Current," he said. "I believe the last case we saw was around 1984. We have gone out and done some surveillance and we've looked at any suspected trees and have done some sampling and sent them off to labs, and we are very fortunate that things come back negative."

Toth said that pruning outside the ban is a good way to keep elm trees healthy and stop the spread of DED.

"It's very important to keep your elms healthy," he said. "I think that's one of the biggest defences against Dutch elm disease is keeping your trees healthy. We try to have our elms pruned on a five to seven-year cycle. It's impossible to prune all of your elms in one year, so we break it up. We just finished up our elms this spring, and we'll continue after the ban is lifted and move forward with our elm tree pruning program."

Toth added that this spring they pruned between five and six hundred.

Toth noted that transportation of any elm wood is illegal, so if anyone has piles of elm wood they should dispose of it at the cities landfill.