Mr. Joe Gowran:

Regarding treatment, I suggest that trees be stumped back in the dormant season when they become diseased. The logs should be removed, to a diameter of 5 cm, for craft wood or fuel, and the remaining lighter branches and leaf litter should be burned from the following September onwards to allow for the bird and mammal nesting season.

The initial response to ash dieback was to remove the stand entirely and burn or bury all of it on site. The indications are now that it is better to deal with trees as they become diseased. From an economic point of view, that will not suit many owners because, in some cases, they have a high percentage of diseased trees. This is why I suggest examining one of the underutilised schemes such as the native woodland conservation scheme and converting the stands into multispecies stands. In the long run, funding the landowner to do that would be the best approach. Within the stands, there is the possibility of a certain amount of ash regenerating. More mature trees tend to show less dieback, from observation. We may get seed from them that will regenerate into the new multispecies stands. In multispecies stands, the spread of disease is slowed down to some extent and there is a greater possibility of creating shelter to protect the ash. There would still be a high percentage of deaths in ash, however.