Woodland crisis: Ash Dieback

[slack ma girdle]

As the title says.

 

[Paul in the woods]

You're just across the channel from me and we have a similar problem with the ash. Don't you have much oak and beech around there and alder in the wetter parts?

[slack ma girdle]

29 minutes ago, Paul in the woods said:

You're just across the channel from me and we have a similar problem with the ash. Don't you have much oak and beech around there and alder in the wetter parts?

Once you go further east into Carmarthenshire Oak and Beech levels start to increase, but levels of Ash are still high there. The North part of Pembrokeshire has higher levels of Oak, but we are predominantly Ash and Sycamore down here.

[Stere]

Similar amount of  ash in north wales although  estate woodlands are often more varied.

 

 

Another impact will be a decline in  hedgerow trees as the majority are ash. Atleast in the woodlands regen will fill the gaps with other species but the hedgerow trees will be lost more permanently as theres little regen due to flailing

 

Happened with elm.

[Pete Mctree]

It is devastating locally- some woodlands are 80% ash with hazel, elm and sycamore and a little oak. They are not looking good ☹️

[openspaceman]

27 minutes ago, Pete Mctree said:

It is devastating locally- some woodlands are 80% ash with hazel, elm and sycamore and a little oak. They are not looking good ☹️

There is a little hope in the fact ash were generally self seeded into hedges and woodlands, hence there could be a pool of resistant genes.

 

I noticed an apparently unaffected mature tree in an otherwise devastated woodland, the owners have reported it on

 

Report a Tree - Living Ash Project

LIVINGASHPROJECT.ORG.UK

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Welcome to the Report A Tree Page Together, we can combat ash dieback through harnessing the natural genetic diversity...

I advocated removal of all badly affected tree but apparently FC and NE do not agree. My thought was any promising progeny of these resistant trees  would be overcome by the sheer amount of spores blowing about  even if they could become resistant over time with a mature canopy.

 

[AHPP]

I wouldn’t call it a crisis. It’s just change. Things come and go. Man plans, god laughs. Etc. It’s pukka firewood but nothing special beyond that.

Probably more like a crisis if you’ve invested money in a crop of it that you’ll not recoup.

[slack ma girdle]

7 hours ago, AHPP said:

I wouldn’t call it a crisis. It’s just change. Things come and go. Man plans, god laughs. Etc. It’s pukka firewood but nothing special beyond that.

Probably more like a crisis if you’ve invested money in a crop of it that you’ll not recoup.

Crisis is probably abit strong a word, but nobody seems to be taking this seriously.  I have spent the last 20 years managing this wood, and we were starting to get some decent saw logs. All of the timber is now stained with brown which means they are only good for firewood. The wood is approx 5Ha, and of that about 4Ha is now standing dead.

With the open canopy the brambles are over head high which is making felling and extraction difficult,  and needs alot of control(expense) to get the new trees established.

The wood is no longer acting as a carbon sink, and the amount of water leaving the wood is definitively higher. Both of these have serious implications for the future,  so maybe crisis is the right word.

[sime42]

I wouldn’t call it a crisis. It’s just change. Things come and go. Man plans, god laughs. Etc. It’s pukka firewood but nothing special beyond that.

Probably more like a crisis if you’ve invested money in a crop of it that you’ll not recoup.

You're a little unfair to Ash, if you don't mind me saying so. It is great firewood, no doubt about that, but it also has other uses. It's very good for making tool handles, due to its strength and slight flex, second only to hickory I think. As it's relatively light for its strength, and takes to steam bending well, it was extensively used in coach building and similar applications in the past.

[AHPP]

2 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

Crisis is probably abit strong a word, but nobody seems to be taking this seriously.  I have spent the last 20 years managing this wood, and we were starting to get some decent saw logs. All of the timber is now stained with brown which means they are only good for firewood. The wood is approx 5Ha, and of that about 4Ha is now standing dead.

With the open canopy the brambles are over head high which is making felling and extraction difficult,  and needs alot of control(expense) to get the new trees established.

The wood is no longer acting as a carbon sink, and the amount of water leaving the wood is definitively higher. Both of these have serious implications for the future,  so maybe crisis is the right word.

I imagine whoever experiences the profit or loss is taking it as seriously as it can be taken. As for the environmental worries, keep an eye on it for 10,000 years. See if it sorts itself out. Worry then if it hasn't.