THE Manx Wildlife Trust is welcoming emergency measures taken to try to prevent the spread of ash dieback disease to the island.
Environment Minister Phil Gawne announced last week that an immediate ban had been imposed on the importation of ash trees, seeds and products.
No cases of the disease have yet been identified in the island but common ash trees make up a quarter of the trees in the Manx countryside.
And Mr Gawne warned that if steps were not taken to combat not only ash dieback but Dutch elm disease and sudden oak death disease, more than three quarters of the island’s trees could be lost.
Some 40 per cent of ash trees growing in Manx Wildlife Trusts sites are to be found at the Cooildarry reserve outside Kirk Michael.
Duncan Bridges, chairman of the Manx Wildlife Trust, welcomed the ban on ash imports.
He said: ‘The threat of ash dieback is serious and should not be understated - that’s what happened in the UK where they have miscalculated how quickly it can spread.
‘Some 30 per cent of all trees in the UK countryside are ash. We don’t have quite that number of ash trees but we’ve also had the threats of sudden oak death and Dutch elm disease.
‘I was pleased to hear the Minister’s announcement and welcome this new ban.’
He said most of the island’s ash trees were found in hedgerows and small spinneys.
Mr Bridges said that we have an advantage as an island in combating the spread of disease. While Dutch elm disease wreaked havoc across, the Isle of Man now has the biggest population of elm trees in the British Isles.
Mr Bridges pointed out that the latest threat affected common ash trees which should not be confused with mountain ash or rowan trees that are found in many gardens and are a completely different species.
However, sudden oak death, more commonly known by its Latin name of phytophthora ramorum, is a fungal disease that has jumped species. It continues to affect larch trees in the plantations but has also been found on species such as viburnum, rhododendron, camellia, magnolia, beech, heathland plants and both horse and sweet chestnut trees.
A number of sweet chestnut trees with the disease were felled on Water Authority land at Injebreck earlier this year.