Disease threatens 1m trees on Cannock Chase

One million trees of Cannock Chase's forest could be wiped out by a deadly infection sweeping the British Isles, it emerged today.

The Chase's stock of towering Corsican pines, which cover 10 million square metres of the sprawling woodland, is under attack from the airborne disease Dothistroma, known as red band needle blight.

The bug has a devastating effect, starving the trees to death by stripping them of their needles, preventing photosynthesis.

And it has emerged tens of thousands of the Chase's larch could also fall victim to killer fungus Phytophthora Ramorum, which has just been found in North Staffordshire.

The spread of the diseases is being blamed on an increase in imports from around the world and climate change.

The Forestry Commission is now planning one of the biggest and most drastic replanting exercises in its 94-year history to combat the unprecedented onslaught.

The face of Cannock Chase will dramatically change over the next 50 to 100 years, with the Corsican pine, and inevitably the larch, disappearing from landscape.

Stress

The huge project will see species such as California redwoods, Douglas Fir and Eucalyptus trees planted as the existing crop continues to be harvested as normal.

The Forestry Commission's Simon West, who is based at Birches Valley, said: "Diseases are going up exponentially through globalisation but also climate change. Change in the weather is putting trees under more stress which leads them open to pests.

"The pests are a becoming a real problem because suddenly they can become more aggressive and take hold more quickly."

Planner Alastair Semple is drawing up the next 50-year blueprint for Cannock Chase, which has around two million trees in its woodland areas.

He said: "In terms of species the Chase will look completely different as we know it today.

"The diseases that are affecting this country mean we have to turn to new species that are more resilient.

"Corsican pine covers 50 per cent of the Chase and that will eventually go.

"What we will do is diversify a lot more and have a lot more species. We will probably not allow one species to dominate more than 20 per cent of the Chase.

"Forestry is a long term business where you are planning for the future.

"In 100 or 130 years time there will be a different climate in this country and we have to prepare for that. "

Research from the Commission suggests climate change is creating the conditions for more of the invading diseases to take hold.

Higher temperatures, droughts, floods and wet summers can stress trees making them more susceptible to the pests.

Timber remains one of Britain's major commodities worth £1.8bn in exports last year.

However, production levels could be hit by the bugs and the transition to new species according to experts.

Doug Stanley, forest work supervisor at the Chase, said: "We are expecting a loss in productivity because we are not sure how the new species will grow.

"The reason Corsican pine was used so heavily was because it grew straight and quickly.

"We don't know if the new species will yield as much as we get currently.

"From a general public point of view, there will be greater biodiversity, textures and colours and much more variety."

The high profile arrival of ash dieback on British shores caused widespread upset as it was realised one of the nation's iconic species would be completely wiped out.

And the arrival of a central European moth in southern England is not only presenting a threat to the nation's might oak trees, but human health.

Tiny spines from the moth's caterpillars can cause severe allergic reaction in some people, bringing them out in rashes and affecting breathing.

The Forestry Commission is now asking for the public to get involved with the fight against bugs and pest by monitoring trees in their gardens and in local woodland.

The first ever citizen-led survey of our nation's tree health called the Open Air Laboratories (Opal), led by the Natural History Museum and Imperial College London, has been launched .

Their survey pack guides volunteers though a tree health check.