Ash disease spread confirmed in six more counties
8 November 2012An emergency summit on destructive ash tree disease Chalara dieback yesterday revealed that the outbreak has now been confirmed across a much wider area – including woodland in Sussex, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Northumberland.
The results from the Forestry Commision’s surveys add to the current infected areas of Kent, Essex and East Anglia.
Plant health experts say the discoveries do not mean the disease is spreading rapidly, rather it’s more likely the disease had been present for several years after spores were originally blown from mainland Europe.
Several hardwood sawmillers have expressed their concerns about potential impacts from any widescale Forestry Commission pre-emptive felling of ash trees, while also lamenting the species’ current lack of popularity in the face of more fashionable imported ash.
In this week’s TTJ we interview several hardwood sawmillers for their perspective on the disease outbreak.
