As our ash trees come into full leaf, efforts are being redoubled to alert the public, and especially forest owners, to be watchful for symptoms of ash dieback disease.

At this stage, the authorities are still in eradication mode, whereas mainland Britain has moved onto containment mode.

This is basically an acceptance that the disease is now widespread there, especially in England. To date, the only instances of the disease identified in Ireland, north and south, have been in imported stock of forest transplants. So for the time being, efforts are concentrating on those areas known to have been planted with imported trees.

Fortunately, the greater proportion of ash planting in recent years has been from homegrown nursery stock.

The original 11 sites that were confirmed positive were planted with trees of Danish provenance shipped to Ireland via a broker in the Netherlands.

To date, 535ha of ash in the Republic have been identified for removal, including 36 plantations which have tested positive for the disease, and another 147 associated sites where material from the same infected batch has also been planted.

INFECTED

The 535ha are spread over 183 sites involving 175 owners. In total, 48 batches of imported plants contained some infected material.

The oldest of the sites so far identified for removal was planted in 2007, the youngest in 2012, and the degree of noticeable symptoms of the disease has ranged from less than 1pc to as much as 20pc.

Over the winter, the Forest Service carried out an intensive survey of the 330 afforestation projects planted since 2008 with imported ash, and an ongoing survey is looking even further back to earlier plantings.

Now that trees are coming into leaf, a wider survey of ash throughout the country is also planned.

Forest owners are naturally concerned to know what compensation measures are in place. An infected site qualifies for a reconstitution grant of up to €1,500/ha to cover the costs of site clearance, which involves uprooting all the ash and burying them on site, together with all leaf litter to a minimum depth of 2m.

This grant is followed up by the standard afforestation grant to replace the ash.

Unexpired forest premiums will remain, but where the replacement species results in a change of grant premium category, the annual premium will be adjusted upwards or downwards accordingly.

This will not impact on any premiums already paid, only the unexpired premiums which remain to be paid.

SYMPTOMS

Teagasc recently conducted a countrywide series of seminars on the disease. They included a detailed presentation on how to identify the symptoms, but for anyone who was unable to attend, the photographs below show some of the key symptoms to look out for.

All forest owners who have planted ash on their lands are advised to start examining their crops closely now and keep a watchful eye for more.

Also, similar hygiene arrangements to those deployed during the outbreak of foot and mouth are highly recommended and may yet prove essential.

The disease is to be treated seriously and anyone in doubt should contact the Forest Service or their forestry advisor immediately.

William Merivale is national secretary of PEFC Ireland and a forestry consultant based in Cork. Email: william@cjandco.net

(Source – Irish Independent – William Merivale – 11^th June 2013)

 

In Britain, The Woodland Trust is calling for a mandatory ban on the import of ash trees from outside the UK to stop Chalara dieback of ash becoming established here.

Without a compulsory ban on imports, ash dieback could become the new Dutch elm disease, causing widespread destruction of one of the country’s most common native broadleaf trees, the trust said.

The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree death, has wiped out 90% of ash trees in Denmark in seven years and is becoming widespread throughout central Europe, the Woodland Trust said.

Ash trees make up an estimated 30% of the UK wooded landscape, across woodlands, parks and hedgerows, are good for biodiversity and are traditionally used for making furniture and tools and creating quality firewood and barbecue charcoal.

Young trees with the fungus have been found this year (2012) in six nurseries and four planting sites in England and Scotland.

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has called for a voluntary moratorium on importing ash trees, but warned that given the widespread trade in plants across Europe it was almost inconceivable that the disease was not already established in the UK.

Norman Starks, UK operations director at the Woodland Trust, said: “This is not the time for weak ineffective voluntary embargoes; we are calling on governments across the UK to put in place an immediate and compulsory ban on imported ash before it’s too late.”

“As an island we have a great opportunity to stop the spread to the UK by closing our borders to this disease. If the disease takes hold the cost and safety implications regarding the removal of infected ash trees would be huge.

“Many of our tree diseases have originated from imported species and in some cases, for example Phytophthora ramorum which is wiping out larch trees across the UK, it’s a battle that is already in full swing.

“We are in a position to stop this war in its tracks before it has the chance to take a hold. It is also an opportunity for the UK industry to capitalise on this and grow disease-free UK ash trees for the UK market.”

Nick Mainprize, deputy plant health manager at the Forestry Commission, said of the disease: “We are very concerned because we are well aware of what’s happened in northern Europe, where it has travelled very quickly in under 10 years.”

He said Denmark had lost 90% of its trees, and warned: “We anticipate something similar could happen in this country.”

While the consultation is taking place, the Forestry Commission is surveying for the disease, which has not been found in the natural or wider environment outside nursery or recent planting sites.

Infected plants and those on the same consignments as them are being destroyed.

(Source – The Independent – Online At:  http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/disease-threatens-uks-ash-trees-8175715.html)

 

 

Tree dig-up ‘was painful’

Martin Kennedy could barely watch as 18,500 ash trees were dug up and buried in huge pits on his farm near Kilmeaden, in Co Waterford, last week.

Mr Kennedy was one of the 175 ash plantation owners that were notified by the Department of Agriculture in recent months that their ash stands were earmarked for destruction to prevent any further spread of the new ash die-back disease that has savaged plantations right across Europe.

“It was very upsetting to watch it, especially when the trees were in such good shape,” said Mr Kennedy.

“When the Department official came out to inspect the trees last November, he said the trees tested negative for the disease.

“Even the lads that were taking them out said that they were twice the size of anything else that they had taken out.”

Kennedy reduced his 60 cow suckler herd by a third in order to plant 18.5ac of his land with ash trees four years ago.

All debris from the trees had to be buried in 10-foot deep pits on Mr Kennedy’s land.

Mr Kennedy has until March 2015 to replant his land, but there is now a ban on ash planting for the foreseeable future.

The Department is covering both the cost of the removal and the replanting of the 1,322ac of ash that was linked with the source of the disease.

(Source – The Irish Independent – Darragh Mc Cullough – 18/06/2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Symptoms Guide – Chalara Dieback of Ash 2012

 

Dept. Info Note Chalara Fraxinea 121012