Oak, pine, horse chestnut and douglas fir at risk FOUR lethal diseases are poised to devastate trees and could dramatically change the landscape across the Midlands for ever.

Oaks, pines, horse chestnuts, larches, sweet chestnuts and douglas fir are all at risk as researchers desperately seek to find control measures.

“In 35 years of working with timber, I can’t remember a time when our trees were under so great a threat,” said Mike Seville, County Land & Business Association (CLA) forestry and woodland adviser.

“At least with Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s only one species was affected, but now we have acute oak decline, red band needle blight on Corsican pine and Scots pine and leaf miner on horse chestnuts. Coming from the South West is the rather confusingly named ‘sudden oak death’ which is killing larch and affecting douglas fir and sweet chestnut.”

What was really worrying, he said, was the rapid spread of the disease. The red band needle blight, in particular, was running in a swathe from Suffolk and Norfolk and up into the Midlands. “It isn’t overstating the case to say that in a very short time we could lose some of our woodlands and commercial forests. With them will go the beauty of our landscapes, a vast range of wildlife habitats, a timber resource and vital carbon sequestration at a time of climate change,” Mr Seville said.

Donna Tavinor, CLA West Midlands regional adviser, said: “So far there have been no reported cases in the region, but we are asking people to remain vigilant and report any suspected presence to the Forestry Commission immediately.””