Wednesday, November 21, 2012

larchmaggedon



This is a view I never wanted to see. Our village was surrounded by conifer plantations and mixed deciduous woods. Suddenly we have a new view of the village through the woods especially at night driving home. This is because the larch trees have been cut down. They are the host of a fungus, phytophthorum ramorum (see link), that has suddenly become rampant and is killing trees. It is a threat to our native oak, and the removal of larch is part of a scorched earth policy to prevent its spread. Unfortunately we are also at the beginning of an epidemic of fungal disease in our ash trees. We have lost 90% of all our elms, and there are threats to horse chestnuts and other trees (see link). Perhaps mother Earth is trying to shrug us off, or maybe we should stop importing all foreign plant species just to make money.

3 comments:

DNP said...

It's certainly sad to see so many trees taken down. One saving grace for me is our experiences in Kent in the aftermath of the 'Great Storm' of 1987. Whole swathes of mature beech trees were lost but the regrowth in subsequent years resulted in interesting, though admittedly different, changes in flora and fauna. This was especially noticable to those of us who walked the woods regularly. Every cloud has a silver lining?

Anonymous said...

Oh no!! How sad to see this loss! I read the links, it seems pervasive! Tara

carletta said...

Can the wood be used?