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Ash Dieback Disease (Chalara fraxinea) in Ireland
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tabby aspreme wrote: »Was there some research that concluded the spores travelled no more than 40kms in the wind.
If memory serves it was suggested from a study that 30 km was a reasonable disease spread distance per year, but I am unsure as to how any study could limit the spread of wind bourne disease to a specific distance, given wind and weather variability. It seems to have covered Europe in a very short space of time.
The FC site currently states this:Local spread, up to some tens of miles, may be by wind. Over longer distances the risk of disease spread is most likely to be through the movement of diseased ash plants.
Looking at the FC map from last year the concentration of wider environment infected sites (red dots) is clustered around the south east of England, its nearest point to the continent. This suggests to me a spread of the disease from the continent by wind. If that is the case then it is easy to imagine the disease crossing the Irish Sea or coming south from NI, or even coming from the continent given favorable conditions.
It is very interesting to see how the additional 281 wider environment sites recorded in the UK this year (see below from the FC site) fit onto the above map. It is also interesting to note that the UK (excluding NI) has had a doubling of discovered wider environment infected sites this year, on the previous 3 years total. it is also interesting to see an aparent spread of the disease across the UK in wider environment sites from east to west over the last few years. It does not look like it is limited to the 30 or 40 km mentioned above.
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tabby aspreme wrote: »The department certainly don't want to highlight ash dieback , considering they sat back and allowed imports to continue till 2012Maybe the dept have decided that there isent alot they can do to stop it spreading and will let nature take its course.
Ireland is a letigious country
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Is there any information, anecdotal or official, about what is currently happening to plantations found to have die-back? Are they being clear-felled and burned on site (as was the threat when it came here, I seem to remember) or can they now be left stand, seeing as it's in the hedgerows and there will be no holding it back (by the looks of what's happening in the UK)?
It's a scorched earth policy here for infected sites at the moment, and associated tree batch planted sites, as well as adjacent hedgrows, as I understand it, roots and all.According to the Minister this work involved the uprooting and deep burial of circa 2 million ash trees since late 2012.Infected ash has also been destroyed by deep burial or burning in privately owned non-forestry locations
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/almost-700hd-of-ash-forestry-destroyed-due-to-ash-dieback/
There have been claims of a slowdown in the spread here, but that may be just the discovery of imported tree infected sites has petered out, the wider environment spread is unknown/unquantified here as yet, imo. All hedgerow infected sites here have been associated with planted infected sites. Good news but still implies that we did this to ourselves and the infection does spread from infected planted sites to the wider environment.
This previous post on this thread may interest you, the webpage the post is linked to is now gone (I wonder why? :rolleyes: ), but the quote is still here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92865924&postcount=442I have a 2.8h ash wood, which was planted by the previous owner 25 years ago. There's a nice understory coming up and I've been planting a more diverse selection than just ash after thinning, but I'm concerned that I might be throwing time and money at a wood that might have to be clear-felled in the next decade or so. There doesn't appear to be any official advice on how plantation owners should proceed.....
You may be lucky and your trees are not from imported infected stock, so you may be ok from that point. The infection has been found in most counties from imported stock, so it's not really very far away. But the question remains how far has the infection spread from those infected sites into the wider environment since they were planted and how far is it going to go? There is no way to tell if the infection will come to your Ash site or not.
The advice has been that it would be prudent to plant other species from now on.
This may interest you: "Reconstitution Scheme (Chalara Ash Dieback)
2014-2020" from the Depts website:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/grantandpremiumschemes/2015/ReconstitutionSchemeChalaraEd2190315.pdf
from here:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/grantsandpremiumschemes2015/
As of July 2015 there are 169 infected sited in ROI and over 100 in NI, a total of over 269 on the Island.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-33480275
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ashdiebackchalara/
The last mapping available of infected sites we have to look at for Ireland was this from May 2014 (I combined the available map of NI to it at the time): well out of date
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Scientists are worried about its impact in Northern Ireland, where ash is a common tree.
They are carrying out a survey of more than 1,000 sites to identify any further problems.
And they have asked for the public's help.
The authorities have developed a smartphone app called Tree Check that the public can use to report potential problems, including a picture and a GPS position.
They will then be assessed and, if necessary, the site visited by experts.
Jim Crummie, plant health expert with the Forest Service urged the public to download the app and to be the "eyes and ears" of the authorities in the fight to combat the disease.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-33480275
and south of the border we have a webpage.......???
Forest owners, forest nursery staff and members of the public are asked to be vigilant for the disease and report (with photographs, if possible) any sites where there are concerns about unusual ill health in ash, to the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, by e-mail forestprotection@agriculture.gov.ie or by phoning 01-607 2651. Your report will be followed up by a Forestry Inspector.
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ashdiebackchalara/
am I ranting again? :P:eek:0 -
Oh dear. Thank you kindly though for the information.
I think I'll hold off on planting more species then, whatever their advice, especially if they not only clear fell, uproot and burn, but also drown the place in herbicide :mad:It's a scorched earth policy here for infected sites at the moment, and associated tree batch planted sites, as well as adjacent hedgrows, as I understand it, roots and all.
Hopefully they'll change the scorched earth policy if the disease starts to hit more mature plantations, to at least let people make use of the fuel source.
Looks like I can only cross my fingers and wait. Thanks very much for the links. I'll look at them more carefully later, but I imagine that my last 15 years of careful stewardship will have been an enormous waste unless I consider something drastic like buying back the grant and clear felling/selling the entire stock before I might have to burn it on site
Will have to think this through. 0 -
but I imagine that my last 15 years of careful stewardship will have been an enormous waste unless I consider something drastic like buying back the grant and clear felling/selling the entire stock before I might have to burn it on site Will have to think this through.
That is a harsh decision to have to make. My ash woodland is semi natural/ancient, and managed as such, with some of the ash trees 150-200 years old, and some dwarf ones around 120 years old. My fears are more ecologically based so I have no choice but to plod on and hope for the best, to pass it on to the next generation intact.0 -
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Funnily enough while we were chatting on the 12th, the Dept were organising new figures for us. There has been an increase in the number of ash dieback sites located in ROI, its now up to 195 (?), giving a total of nearly 300 on our island. Infected forestry platations found are up over 100% in 2015 on previously located figures from 2014 and before.
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ashdiebackchalara/
I noticed the little nuggets at the bottom of the Departments published figures:2 Refers to the number of counties with one or more confirmed native hedgerow findings.
3 Refers to the number of counties with one or more confirmed findings in roadside plantings.
"one or more confirmed":eek:
11 Counties have infected hedgrow sites and 13 counties have infected roadside plantings! How many hedgerow sites and roadside planting sites within these counties have been infected? The Dept map of all infected sites was changed to exclude Horticultural nurseries, then withdrawn altogeather. The figures presented by the Dept no longer including the caveat "hedgerow positives are all associated with infected sites". Now a slight of hand reduces the true number of infected sites. :rolleyes: What is the real situation? The currently mispresented "195" infected sites within ROI is not? Does it appear that Nero is fiddling :mad:
The Irish Times reported on the figures last night and presented this picture in the article:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/number-of-trees-with-ash-dieback-disease-up-two-thirds-in-2015-1.2436897
It could be said from a quick look at the analysis of the figures presented in the IT picture, that there is a downward trend in the discovery of new sites, hmmmmmmmm, but it does not portray a year by year discovery, nor does it show the actual number (one or more) of infected sites.
Also interesting to note from the IT picture is that 2 million trees have been uprooted an buried, and that 693 hectares (1712 acres) have been cleared since 2012 (and one presumes glyphosated).0 -
Somthing was bothering me in the figures, so I had a deeper look. Can you spot it?
Total to end of 2014 Figures
Total to end 2015 Figures
Roadside plantings are stated as 31 sites to end of 2014, and are now down to 4 counties for 2014 on the 2015 statement.
Very misleading imo, esp in the way it is presented.
Also worth noting that the total for new infected Forestry plantation sites discovered in 2014 was 13, and it is up to 56 for 2015, an increase of 430% :eek:0 -
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anybody used the Treecheck app yet to report possible infected trees?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95111569
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/press/pressreleases/2015/april/title,82235,en.html
type www.treecheck.net into your moblie browser
you can also contact the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine by email forestprotection@agriculture.gov.ie or by phoning 01 6072651.
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anybody used the Treecheck app yet to report possible infected trees?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95111569
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/press/pressreleases/2015/april/title,82235,en.html
type www.treecheck.net into your moblie browser
you can also contact the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine by email forestprotection@agriculture.gov.ie or by phoning 01 6072651.
You're joking right?! I'd have to think long and hard about reporting infections if I found one And I'm painfully honest. Can imagine the uptake isn't the greatest, considering the risk of losing out massively by being on the front line of an unstoppable disease..... 0 -
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The Dept have changed to look of the Ash Dieback page on their website:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ashdiebackchalara/
Of note are the Latest Figures from the Dept:
Again the presentation of the figures is as not as straighforward as it would appear at a glance (no totals this time) as the 1,2,3 adendums to the above figures indicate. So.... actual site figures provided below now include the new info to provide a better picture of individual total infected sites to 2015 at a glance: which now appears to be 339 infected sites.
There are no reported wider environment sites in NI, but the total in NI is now 113, giving a total of 452 infected sites on the Island.At the 15 December 2015 a total of 110 premises with recently planted ash and 3 nursery/trade findings have been confirmed infected in Northern Ireland
https://www.dardni.gov.uk/articles/ash-dieback-disease
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
They provide a map this time and you know how I love a mapDistribution map of confirmed findings of the Ash Dieback in Ireland (as of 25th January 2016). The locations of horticultural nurseries and garden centres are not depicted
The map seems to show that 3 counties do not appear to have infection.
NI map:
This next bit made for very interesting reading, but..Spore trapping
As part of the 2015 Ash Dieback work programme the Department included a spore-trapping element aimed at detecting, quantifying, and establishing dispersal patterns around known positive locations. The study was conducted with the assistance of experts from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and based mainly in Tipperary and Leitrim where 192 spore traps were placed in the wider countryside for a week or two during the summer and removed and analysed for the presence of spores. Ash dieback spores were found in 14 spore traps.
Seems to prove beyond a doubt that the disease is spreading from imported stock into the wider environment. I would like to see further data from the report, like actual dates traps were placed, actual spread/distance of traps from infected locations, etc, to get a better picture of the actual spread.How the disease is spread
When mature, these tiny fruiting bodies release large quantities of microscopic spores into the air, some of which will land on the leaves of both healthy and previously infected ash trees to begin the cycle again.
Movement of larger diameter ash logs from infected areas is considered to be much lower risk so long as certain phytosanitary measures are properly implemented. These include ensuring the larger diameter logs being moved have no evident signs of the disease, e.g. lesions or staining, and that all leaves and foliage (whether living or dead) are completely removed on site before transportation.
I had thought that movement of logs with bark on was restricted. Not sure how they intend the control of microscopic spores on trafficed barked or debarked logs from infected sites.Legislation - Update of legislative measures - 2015
Arising from the findings in Dr. Sansford’s report the Department and DARD officials agreed that relaxing certain legal measures restricting ash wood imports would not impact on the control of the disease. On 3rd November 2015 the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine updated the legislation on the importation of ash wood into the country
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/ashdiebackchalara/SI479of2015181115.pdfIn addition to forest surveys, staff in the wider Department conducted surveys in horticultural nurseries, garden centres, private gardens, roadside landscaping and farm agrienvironment scheme plantings. The surveys conducted in 2015 included a targeted survey of forestry plantations with imported ash (97 locations) and a systematic survey of 376 National Forest Inventory points (153 forest locations and 223 hedgerow locations) across the country.
This is taken from pg 50: Ireland’s Forests - Annual Statistics, and may explain the large increase in infected sites in 2015.
http://www.teagasc.ie/forestry/docs/stats/Annual%20Forest%20Sector%20Statistics%202015.pdf0 -
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An owner of an mature infected plantation is not reimbursed for the destruction of the crop as it stands, so he/she would have much to think about.embraer170 wrote: »But the owner also wouldn't have any hope of harvesting an infected plantation?
It would be a very difficult call to make. Nobody would want to be in the position of seeing their plantation destroyed and months/years later seeing the department throw in the towel on trying to hold back the tide, at which point plantation owners could presumably harvest/let stand.
The question remains as to whether the dept. is calling it right. Going on the UK experience and all over Europe, it is absolutely entrenched and policies have seemingly turned to just slowing the spread of the disease by destroying only new plantations found to have it. You would hope Ireland would see the sense in this fairly quickly (well, I would anyway!).
However, the other side of the coin (and I have this from a forester who is also a master mycologist) is that fungus is way more fussy than we might think. Here in Ireland, we may not have the specific weather conditions that suit Chalara fraxinea well - judging by the EU countries in which it has flourished, it may very much like long, hot summers which of course we don't have. So there is a slight possibility that in Ireland, this disease could be held back for longer than in other places with more favourable weather conditions. Bit of a gamble though, and people's livelihoods at stake 0 -
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However, the other side of the coin (and I have this from a forester who is also a master mycologist) is that fungus is way more fussy than we might think. Here in Ireland, we may not have the specific weather conditions that suit Chalara fraxinea well - judging by the EU countries in which it has flourished, it may very much like long, hot summers which of course we don't have. So there is a slight possibility that in Ireland, this disease could be held back for longer than in other places with more favourable weather conditions. Bit of a gamble though, and people's livelihoods at stake
That would be great news if true, but the specific weather conditions needed for optimizing the spread of the disease may already have proven not to be needed by the fungus, as the UK climate is not vastly different to what we have here. It is already happily spreading and infecting ash trees in the wider environment via the wind, some distance from recently planted infected plantations into the wider environment here.Spore trapping
As part of the 2015 Ash Dieback work programme the Department included a spore-trapping element aimed at detecting, quantifying, and establishing dispersal patterns around known positive locations. The study was conducted with the assistance of experts from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and based mainly in Tipperary and Leitrim where 192 spore traps were placed in the wider countryside for a week or two during the summer and removed and analysed for the presence of spores. Ash dieback spores were found in 14 spore traps
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/ashdiebackchalara/#Firstfinding0 -
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Thanks Oldtree - your posts are sound and factual!
This, I am happy to hear!I read somewhere (but cant find at the moment) that it may take a few years for symptoms to show up in a mature Ash tree once the tree has been infected.
This, not so muchAsh Dieback spores can be spread by the wind, at distances of over 30km, maby much more, from Europe. As the crow spore flies, I'm not far enough away from one of the first sites found to be infected. 0 -
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This, not so much As the crow spore flies, I'm not far enough away from one of the first sites found to be infected.
I'm sorry to hear that, its devastating enough that its in the country, never mind next door. I'm pinning my hopes on the prevailing SW wind to keep it at bay from here.embraer170 wrote: »So if we survive ash-dieback, the emerald ash borer is the next thing coming our way at a rate of 25 miles a year (presently has made it as far as Sweden).
Pipped to the post Saw this article yesterday too and its all we need. I think it is reasonable to assume that with a good wind behind it, like the spores, this borer could make it across the channel from europe too, or maby we have already imported it upon ourselves, just like the Ash Dieback :mad: I wonder if this beetle can become some sort of vector like the DED beetle
Dr Peter Thomas can be heard talking about his report on BBC4 from about 54 minutes on here, for a few minutes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0742jt4
Full article here: (attached PDF of full article below)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.12566/full
The beetle can come in on ash wood that hasn't been debarked.
S.I. No. 431 of 2012 is when debarking of ash was initiated, but only originating in countries where Chalara fraxinea is known to occur, the same can be said of the Emerald Borer from 2000 on afaik:
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/legislation/statutoryinstruments2012/SI4312012.pdf
S.I. No. 479 of 2015 was enacted due to the lack of scientific evidence to link large diameter ash wood with the lifecycle of Ash Dieback, and it was agreed that relaxing certain legal measures restricting ash wood imports would not impact on the control of the disease.
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/legislation/statutoryinstruments2012/SI4312012.pdf
This concerns me too if the beetle "has reached" Europe (stated in summary of Dr Thomas article, "thought to" have already reached Sweden, as there dosn't appear to be any control measures to debark ash wood from know non-infected countries, until they were known to be infected.These requirements principally refer to countries where an invertebrate pest, the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) occurs. This includes Japan but does not include Europe. Such requirements are described under each pathway.
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/ashdiebackchalara/PestRisk290116.pdf
Also worth a look:
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/ashdiebackchalara/SI479of2015181115.pdf
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Emerald_ash_borer_contingency_plan_January_2016.pdf/$FILE/Emerald_ash_borer_contingency_plan_January_2016.pdf
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/emeraldashborer0 -
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