Concern at felling of 1000 trees in Wyming Brook

There is much concern about the felling of around 1000 Larch trees and some other species at Wyming Brook. Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust explain the situation here. This has been featured on the front page of the Sheffield Star and a petition of nearly 5000 people asking for the felling to be stopped is here. A Facebook group has been created to Save Wyming Brook Trees.

In the Star article Ecologist and environmental campaigner Professor Ian Rotherham spoke out against the disturbance of archaeological remains at Rough Standhills during felling work, and also questions the government’s uncompromising policy of felling all diseased larch.

“Phytophthora has existed in the UK for thousands of years, he says, so couldn’t the Forestry Commission consider a less drastic policy when the climate is becoming so harsh for trees and wildlife, perhaps allowing more larch trees to develop resistance to any new strains?”

Here are some recent photos from Wyming Brook which show some felling and also some of the damage caused by Storm Babet (Storm BP)

It is unfortunately true that rising temperatures from climate change and different patterns of rainfall are making trees much more susceptible to disease. But is sanitation felling really the best method to deal with it?

I wrote to the Wildlife Trust with some questions on November 21st and I was promised that answers would appear on the SRWT site. So far they haven’t appeared.

One of my original questions was “Why does the SRWT website say this is “Major Works at Wyming Brook to remove diseased trees” when the vast majority of the trees are healthy?” (I now realise only 6 trees were sampled and all were found to be diseased. I wonder what the probability is that all the larch trees are diseased? One would hope there might be some trees that are resistant to the water mould. )

Here are my unanswered questions

1. What evidence is there that destroying all these trees is proportionate, necessary and appropriate? How can we be sure that destroying them will be effective in halting the spread of the disease?

2. How will the trust mitigate the increased risk of flooding once the trees have been felled? 

3.What will stop the soil being washed into the river? 

4.Presumably, the spores of the disease are in the leaf litter. Is this being collected to stop the spread?

5. Do you believe the policy of sanitation felling is working?

6. Is the Wildlife Trust in agreement with the Forestry Commission on the felling at Wyming Brook, or are SRWT being forced to carry out Forestry Commission instructions? 

Hopefully, some answers will be available soon.