The government is set to ban imports of ash trees from abroad, the environment secretary said Thursday, after a serious disease which could devastate the species was found in Britain for the first time.
Chalara ash dieback, caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea, has been found at a string of sites in East Anglia, including in Suffolk, experts say.
The fungus, which causes leaf loss and can kill trees outright, has already wiped out 90 percent of all ash trees in Denmark and is spreading in central Europe. There are around 80 million ash trees in Britain.
“We have already launched a consultation on the ground looking in real detail to see whether this disease has taken root in this country,” Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said in the House of Commons Thursday.
“That consultation will report to me tomorrow and I will discuss it over the weekend with the head of the Forestry Commission GB and I think on the evidence we are seeing, I intend to bring in a ban on imports and tight restrictions of ash movements within GB on Monday.”
Experts warn that the fungus could have a serious impact on Britain’s countryside.
“Losing ash within the UK landscape would have serious implications to both the ecology, culture and landscape of our countryside,” said Andrew Sharkey, head of woodland management for conservation charity the Woodland Trust.
“The occurrence of tree diseases in the UK is becoming far too frequent and once they are established we are often powerless to act.”
The news has prompted some experts to compare the potential impact of the fungus to the outbreak in the 1970s of Dutch elm disease.
Ash tree imports could be banned over disease
