EN Additional Stories of Today 26.10.13 Promising News For Britain’s Ash Trees Ash trees in a Somerset estate have survived ash dieback for far longer than previously thought possible – suggesting there may be potential to slow the spread of the disease in the British countryside. The National Trust said only 10% of the 6 000 ash trees at its Holnicote estate are showing any signs of the disease, despite having been infected for five years longer than any other tree in the UK so far. This finding is at odds with government predictions that it should have spread further and infected more trees, and, suggests that tackling the disease is not a lost cause and control measures could slow the spread from south-east England, where the disease appears to have been wind-blown from mainland Europe. With an estimated 80 million ash trees in the UK this could be good news for the British landscape, which would be radically changed if the disease spread in the coming decades. The National Trust’s Dr Simon Pryor said, “Even the trees affected have not suffered as much as wed have expected, and very few have died, despite apparently having had the disease for nearly a decade. This confirms the view weve held from the outset that it is worthwhile removing infected trees in order to try to slow the spread. We will be asking the government to look again at its control strategy in the light of this new evidence – which to us does not appear to fit well with current modelling. theguardian/environment/2013/oct/25/ash-dieback-somerset-trees-national-trust
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 05:46:36 +0000
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