Clippings
Trees ‘will survive’ ash dieback devastation
Ten years on from the discovery of the first confirmed case of ash dieback in the UK, the hunt is still on for trees with natural immunity.Ash dieback, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, has spread to almost every area of the UK since it was first identified in 2012. Hundreds of thousands of ash trees have died: last year alone, the National Trust felled over 30,000 affected ash trees.
“The devastation here has been almost total,” says Mark Ballard, curator at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum in Gloucestershire. He’s had to fell about 5,000 trees affected by ash dieback in the Arboretum’s ancient Silk Wood, which dates back to the 13th century.) and the wild service tree (). “We’re keeping one eye on the future,” he says.
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