The Tree Health Diagnostic and Advisory Service (THDAS), a sub-section of the Forestry Commission which was defunded by the last Government, has experienced over five years worth of enquiries in the last six months due to public fear over the chalara disease, which causes dieback of ash trees.
In a normal year, the service receives a combined total of 750 enquires. But in autumn 2012, the UK saw multiple cases of chalara, a serious disease of ash trees which is caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea. According to Forest Research, the disease “causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and usually leads to tree death in younger trees”; as a result, “it is being treated as a quarantine pest under national emergency measures”, and Forest Research is asking that suspected cases be reported.
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