The Forestry Commission has established a new Demarcated Area in Devon to help contain Sweet Chestnut Blight after detection of the first airborne spores of the disease in Great Britain since 2011.
The move follows an earlier announcement in February in which the Commission confirmed that Sweet Chestnut Blight had spread to Devon, urging vigilance. Airborne spores increase the risk of wider environmental spread.
The Demarcated Area being introduced will mean restrictions on the felling, killing and movement of sweet chestnut trees and other susceptible material capable of spreading the disease, helping to prevent further spread. The restrictions relate to parts of South Devon from Thursday April 2.
This includes a prohibition of the movement of plants for planting of the genus Castanea to outside of the demarcated area and restrictions on the movement of sweet chestnut wood and bark within and outside of the demarcated area unless authorised by the Forestry Commission.
Sweet chestnut blight is a destructive disease caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica which attacks the bark of European sweet chestnut trees, entering through fissures or wounds and spreading to the underlying tissue and wood, killing these tissues as it advances. Symptoms of the disease include fissured or discoloured bark cankers with orange pinhead-sized fungal fruiting bodies and buff-coloured fungal fans under the bark.
Previous Sweet chestnut blight findings have been made at a small number of sites in England, all of which are subject to statutory control measures. But this latest finding in Devon shows evidence of the causal fungus reproducing sexually, meaning airborne spores are being produced.
The Forestry Commission is working in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and Forest Research to encourage the public and stakeholders to look for signs of the disease and report any suspected findings as part of the Check a Sweet Chestnut campaign.
“We have acted swiftly and decisively to introduce restrictions to protect sweet chestnut trees across the country, and we urge anyone who suspects they have seen signs of this disease to report it immediately via TreeAlert,” said Professor Nicola Spence, Defra Chief Plant Health Officer.
Andrea Deol, Forestry Commission Head of Plant Health Forestry, said sweet chestnut blight reproducing sexually has the potential to spread rapidly and over longer distances through the movement of airborne spores.
“We encourage woodland owners, land managers, tree nurseries and members of the public to engage with the Check a Sweet Chestnut campaign to maintain biosecurity and prevent spread,” said Ms Deol.
