Ash Disease

[maltaron]

So we now have the follow up to Dutch Elm Disease, and still the clever politicians and forestry bods sitting on their hands and doing nothing. Any gardener or experienced woodsman knows that the answer is to cut down and burn the infected trees, but I presume that by the time all the forms have been filled and pored over by useless quangoes all the Ash trees will be dead anyway.

 

[ellal]

The 'forestry bods' were arguing for a ban on imported seeds/saplings years ago...

Governments of course just donn't listen!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/29/government-ignored-ash-dieback-warnings

 

[maltaron]

May Be, but the "Forestry Bods" I refered to were Defra and the Forestry Commision (who seem to be very quiet about this). The HTA tried but had no authority to take action.

 

[ellal]

Defra aren't 'forestry bods' - they are government stooges, and the forestry commision is not that much better!

Real 'forestry bods' are those on the ground, and they have been warning of this for ages!

 

[longdogs]

Apparantly, when the Irish politicians heard of this, they banned imports immediately but obviously our politicians had to have a thousand meetings about it first.

 

[amfisted]

Our ash trees are doomed.
The only positive way forward is to develop a GM version of the ash tree which is resistant to the disease, and then implement a rolling programme to clear the vulnerable trees and plant the new strain in their place.

 

[ellal]

GM?...And replace one problem with an even bigger one?

Weren't all those GM crops supposed to mean less use of pesticides?

Well pesticide usage is actually the same or greater because the bugs they were supposed to be protected against are now mutating and becoming harder to kill. They have also had to revert to some of the nastier chemicals too!

It would be the same with GM Ash....roll on super fungi!

 

[AronSearle]

At that time, the Forestry Commission believed it could not ban ash imports under EU law because the organism that causes ash dieback was erroneously believed to be already present in Britain.

This is all you need to know.

Any gardener or experienced woodsman knows that the answer is to cut down and burn the infected trees

Which they have been doing.

 

[ellal]

Which they have been doing.

Belatedly..

I happen to know a local Council Tree expert who has been lobbying for the banning of imports for 3 years. He succeeded in getting local nurseries to impose a voluntary ban, but as we all know that is not enough...

I hear that the idea is now being mooted that people are to be banned from the forests..

Funny that, as the government has in the past blamed wind for the spreading of the disease...How are they going to stop that?

As ever, it's all hot air until it's too late!

And of course not a single head will roll...

 

[joe-90]

It's climate change that is ultimately to blame. Warmer and wetter suits fungi, so how are you going to change that?

 

[amfisted]

GM?...And replace one problem with an even bigger one?

I don't necessarily agree that a controlled and monitored introduction of GM trees would be a bigger problem than the death of every single ash tree in the entire country.

Weren't all those GM crops supposed to mean less use of pesticides?

I agree that the science is unproven (as are many of the doom laden prophecies about what GM will do to the Earth) but maybe that's partly because every time the scientists try to grow something GM the enviro-loonies attempt to destroy it.

Well pesticide usage is actually the same or greater because the bugs they were supposed to be protected against are now mutating and becoming harder to kill. They have also had to revert to some of the nastier chemicals too!

It would be the same with GM Ash....roll on super fungi!

I can think of no alternative if we want to maintain an ash tree population; they don't appear to hold out any hope for a cure.

 

[Norcon]

Apparantly, when the Irish politicians heard of this, they banned imports immediately but obviously our politicians had to have a thousand meetings about it first.

I'd expect the UK officials to be blaming eu officials over this malarky.
The truth is English officials bend over backwards to oblige their eu masters and when the sh@it hits the fan they start running around like headless chickens not knowing what to do.

The Irish do what they want, when they want. Much like the French.