Siberian Elm as an alternative to Slippery ElmIdeas for regenerative herbalism and land management

Slippery Elm(Ulmus Rubra) is a Native American tree that is endemic to southern Quebec down south to northern Florida and west to eastern Texas.

Originally it was used by the indigenous people for thousands of years, and it is now heavily used and prescribed by modern American herbalists. This tree has a huge potential as a very early season food when there is nothing else growing. In spring the inner bark can be dried, ground up and made into an oatmeal-like paste. The trees can be easily spotted amongst the bare branched still sleeping deciduous trees as an island of light green that are often mistaken for young leaves but are actually edible seed pods(samaras).

Slippery Elm however is known for its medicinal properties, most notably as a demulcent. Demulcent is a fancy word for a compound high in mucilage that soothes the

mucous membranes, like honey or more conventionally a cough drop. There are mucous membranes through out the body which is why it’s so effective for so many ailments and can adapt to help with constipation to diarrhea and Congestion to dryness. Amazing!

Unfortunately Slippery Elm is dying off in large numbers as a result of pests and disease brought over from Europe(classic..), and over harvesting. As a result of the medicine being in the inner bark, even when harvested modestly it still exposes the trees internal world to pest and disease(it would be like ripping off our skin), particularly dutch elm disease.

Siberian Elm introduction:Luckily here in Bend and a lot of the United States there is an abundance, not of

Slippery Elm, but it’s introduced cousin Siberian Elm(Ulmus Pumila). This is a badass tree that paves the way for other life by literally busting through the pavement, dropping leaf mulch, preventing erosion, and locking up heavy metals in its plant body (in urban areas).Most importantly it has the same medicinal and edible constituents as Slippery Elm!

On the top: Distribution of Siberian ElmBottom Left: Bark of Siberian ElmBottom Right: Leaves of Siberian Elm

It is known as an invasive because it has moved into the disturbed ecosystems that we have created and it tends to take space from native plants. It is a prolific self seeder and can be cut to the ground and still grow back. Most see this as bad news and a huge hassle, why?? Because they haven’t built a healthy relationship with it and don’t see why it’s present on the land.

In Bend it is a miracle for any sort of deciduous trees to establish themselves without any artificial irrigation present. The leaves that drop every year break down and help build soil and retain moisture. Most people spend lots of money on fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides to keep their landscaped trees alive, whereas Siberian Elm thrives all on its own. This is why I have a counter suggestion to the conventional methods of eradication that use poisons and force. How about we use the tree to our benefit while more slowly phasing it out of native or landscaped areas.Siberian Elm Regenerative Management and Harvesting

People want to get rid of this tree for many reasons: it is non-native,it self replicates which makes people feel out of control, it’s limbs break, and people think its ugly. If your yard has a mature Siberian elm they can often pose a danger because their wood is heavy, lanky, and weak. My neighbor got his car crushed by the one in my backyard. If you'd like to get rid of it completely, hire an arborist to cut it to the ground. The wood chips from its limbs are incredibly slimy(showing its mucilaginous properties) and high in water, perfect for a garden mulch. The chopped down logs inner bark can be harvested for medicine or food and then used as firewood after being stripped. After that more will pop up around the yard from the intact roots, but those are easy to get rid of and harvest from. If you can’t seem to keep up with the suckers, it’s okay because the best medicine comes from wood that is closer to 10 years old anyway and eventually they will get exhausted from being harvested and die back. If you like the tree in your yard then know that you can harvest the limbs every time you prune and use that. If you have young saplings that you want to keep in your yard then you can take strips of inner bark off the trunk and they will heal and stay alive, or you can coppice the young trees to continuously harvest as well.Look into coppicing which is a great and ancient way to elongate the life and health of a tree and can be done as a way to sustainably harvest the medicine or firewood.

Shown on the left is the method for harvesting the inner barkShown on the right is the practice of coppicing trees

Riverbank Restoration theory:If you’re trying to do restoration work on a stream bank and there is Elm present(which

there often is in disturbed riparian areas) you could strip bark the tree(which should kill/weaken it) take the inner bark and leave the snag for wildlife habitat. Or an alternative could be to cut it to the ground causing it to send up new shoots next to the stump and harvest from those shoots until the tree gets exhausted and dies. With the opened up light space a pioneer riparian plant can be put in like: Chokecherry, Willow, or serviceberry(which all have uses of their own) and eventually those will grow up beyond the Elm and shade it out. By leaving the Elm roots in the ground the stream bank stays stabilized and at the same time you are speeding up the natural succession and obtaining multiple yields.

Invasive species are only a problem when we don’t see the full story of why a plant or animal is present and what purpose it is providing for the ecology. We must trust the natural healing processes of our earth and try to shift our perspective beyond our short lives. For me it gives me comfort in knowing that a plant I have to do nothing for can feed me when there is no other food, turn dry sandy soil into medicine, and warm me with its timber. That’s incredible!