The historic elm in Kungsträdgården was felled on Thursday. Stockholm city has found that the tree is infected with elm disease – but the elm could have been felled over 54 years ago. The tree is one of the thirteen elms that survived the elm battle.
In the beginning of the 1970s, politicians in Stockholm decided that the elms would be cut down and replaced with shops, a ticket hall and a subway entrance. The activist group Alternative City began to organize itself to stop the decision. Through telephone chains, the group spread the information that the elms would be cut down on the night of May 12, 1971.
Climbed up the tree
87-year-old Göran Folin was involved in founding Alternative City and was present during the Elm Battle. Then he was in his 30s and dreamed of becoming a teacher at a folk high school.
The police had put up posters that we helped tear down. Then I climbed up one of the elms, through the roof of the old tea house, I and other demonstrators climbed up the tree. There were masses of demonstrators, the police had batons, dogs, and horses, he says.
Göran Folin describes that from the tree he saw how a plainclothes police officer talked to the police chief in the field and that the tree felling was then stopped.
It was an incredible feeling. The consequences we could never have dreamed of, that it would have such great significance for politics in Stockholm. It was a victory for democracy, he says.
Now, 54 years later, he is back in Kungsträdgården, some from the group have been invited by Stockholm city.
It's sad that the elm is being felled, but Alternative City understands that the tree must be felled to prevent the other elms from becoming infected, he says.
Sadly
Elisabet Elfström is the city gardener at Stockholm city and says that the elm that was cut down is one of the elms that the police began to saw during the Elm Battle. The tree, which has got elm disease, risks infecting the other elms, despite all being vaccinated.
It's sad, but we hope that the felling will contribute to the other elms being able to survive longer. The timber from the elm will be reused in Kungsträdgården, perhaps as a bench, she says.
Elm disease is a fungal disease that was discovered in Sweden as early as 1950, the disease was introduced with infected timber.
In the late 1970s, a more aggressive version of the fungal disease was discovered, which dominates today.
All species of elms can become infected with elm disease.
Elm disease is mainly spread by the elm bark beetle, but the disease can also be spread through the root system of an infected tree. It can also be spread by humans, for example through pruning tools.
The elm risks becoming very rare in Sweden. Estimated, Gotland has the largest wild population of elm in Europe.
Source: SLU and Stockholm city.
