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2009-12-20 09:14:17 - Biological Hazard - United Kingdom EDIS CODE: BH-20091220-24238-GBR
Date & Time: 2009-12-20 09:14:17 [UTC]
Area: United Kingdom, England, Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, Damage level: Heavy (Level 3)
Not confirmed information! Description: Forestry workers in the Lake District are on ‘heightened alert’ following reports that a deadly disease is spreading through woodlands. Sudden death fungus - phytophthora ramorum - has hit hundreds of trees in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and there are fears that it will spread to other areas including the Lakes. The disease, which was first noticed in an oak tree in a garden centre England in 2002, also attacks Japanese larch, beech, birch, sweet chestnut, rhododendrons and heathland bilberry. English native white oaks have been unaffected. The fungus leaves cankers on the bark and leaves turn brown and the tree dies. It is believed that recent wet sumers have led to the disease taking hold. A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said while there was not yet any known affected areas in the Lakes, forestry workers were on ‘heightened alert’ for any signs of its spread. He said larch plantations with rhododendron in them were being checked for the disease last week by forestry workers in Cumbria and a member of staff from the Forestry Commission in south west England. No signs of the infection were found in the Cumbrian larch woods but some samples were taken to laboratory for analysis. “If we find a rhododendron or other plant infected with the fungus, we destroy that plant and all others within two metres of it,” said a Forestry Commission spokesman. “We would also check the trees nearby for any signs of infection, and also survey all known host plants within a three kilometre radius for any other signs of infection. “We don’t automatically fell infected trees. Each case is treated on its merits, and in some cases of less severe infection it might be possible to deal with it initially by cutting out the infected wood.”
The name of Hazard: Phytophthora Ramorum (fungus) spread
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