Cash boost to help ravines survive Ash Dieback threat
A MULTI-MILLION pound funding pot is being used to pay for work to be carried out that will help the area’s ravines to survive the threat of Ash Dieback.
Dovedale and the picturesque valleys of Derbyshire’s White Peak are among the areas under significant threat from the fungal tree disease, and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has announced it will be working with Natural England to make use of a massive funding pot to tackle the onslaught.
The trust will tap into resources from Natural England’s Life in the Ravines project, which has received £5 million in funding, with £3.6m from the EU LIFE Programme and the remainder from project partners.
The project sets out to help 876 hectares of forest survive Ash Dieback, with a programme of woodland management and tree planting.
Kate Bradshaw, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Living Landscapes officer for the White Peak, said: “The ravine woodlands of the Derbyshire Dales are an incredibly special habitat and important on an international scale.
“This partnership project will not only help to mitigate the threat of Ash Dieback, but will also make our woodlands more resilient to any future changes that might threaten these important ecosystems.”
Ash Dieback, if left, will cause catastrophic devastation to ravine forests in the Peak District, the trust says.
Felling of diseased trees is due to start in January, following projects already carried out in valleys and ravines by the National Trust.
The felling programme will be followed by a tree-planting programme which will see a number of tree species such as small and large leaved lime, aspen and willow, to help build resilience and add to the diversity of surrounding wildlife.
James Marshall, Area Manager at Natural England said: “Ash dieback is such a devastating, and now very visible disease and that’s why it’s critical that Natural England is working with a range of partners to deliver the Life in the Ravines project, including the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, to ensure that the iconic ravine woodlands of the White Peak area survived for the future.
A team working under the banner of the new project has already completed woodland surveys to assess what species are present and give a risk rating for how badly Ash Dieback is likely to affect the area.
Starting in January, trees will be thinned with some mature trees left standing but enough light and space to plant new trees in the same area to enable them to flourish.
Experts say Ash Dieback will kill around 80% of ash trees in the UK and the picturesque ravine forests of the Peak District are mostly dominated by ash trees.
It has been estimated that a large majority of the trees in Dovedale could be affected by the disease, which would be an ecological disaster, without any intervention.
The disease is caused by a fungus called Hymenoscyphys fraxineus. The fungus has two stages – a sexual stage that helps the fungus spread and an asexual stage that grows on the tree.
Once the fungus has grown it blocks water transport systems in the tree, which then causes the tree to die.