Awaiting Spring For Final Verdicts On Ash Dieback

Is the ongoing popularity of ash furniture still in doubt? The coalition government has just announced its mid-term overview of policies and pledges, with 'Ash Dieback Control Strategy' playing a key role in the programme of 'to do' subjects. The problem is that the experts will have to wait till the advent of Spring growth before it can be ascertained how much the dieback fungus has spread. They have announced that there may be 'a lurking time bomb in the overall costs of dealing with the problem'.

With tighter controls on imported wood, isolated areas such as the Isle of Man are taking stringent precautions. According to the Department of the Environment, there are currently 250,000 ash trees in the Isle of Man. Government forestry officer, Jimmy Lee, will be addressing the problems with the Manx people and said, "If let go, the island could lose up to 50 per cent of its hardwood population." The disease has already caused a lot of damage to ash tree populations in Europe, and it particularly affects young plants.

So far, ash dieback has been identified in more than 300 sites throughout the UK, with Essex, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk being the hardest hit counties. In a concerted effort to control the disease, it has been announced that native trees coming into Britain will have to be carefully audited, with their own 'paper trail' of the kind that applies to livestock.

Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, is insisting that all imports of oak, ash, sweet chestnut and plane trees must be accompanied by documentation showing their original source. He said, "We need to ensure we have a healthy, thriving stock of our native trees and these controls will significantly help us to prevent pests and diseases from getting established in the first place. We have learnt from ash dieback how important it is to be able to act quickly to identify where infected trees may be."

Another person with a vested interest in developments is Dr Simon Pryor, director of the Natural Environment at the National Trust. He added, "We have been very worried about chestnut blight and were on the brink of stopping any planting of this species on our own land as we couldn't be sure they weren't imported or infected. The extension of inspections to cover a range of species gives us greater confidence."

So say all the furniture manufacturers in the country. To lose the production of ash furniture from the country's resources would be a bitter blow to makers and retailers, right down to the consumer. We all need faith in the government's mid-term strategies to solve the problem.

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