Farmers urged to support Carrick group’s conservation project
Members of Carrick-on-Shannon Tidy Towns group who have set up a conservation project on Ash trees pictured at Drumshanbo Mart with Tommy Early, Mountallen, Leitrim Organic Farmers’ Co-Op; Paddy Lenehan, Tidy Towns; Phil Faughnan, Tidy Towns; John Gaffey, Project Leader; Pius Earley, Mountallen, and Gerry Dolan, Chairman of Drumshanbo Mart. Pic. Gerry Faughnan
A Tidy Towns group has set up a conservation project which intends to reseed from trees showing resistance to Ash dieback
Members recently attended the organic sale at Drumshanbo Mart bringing non-infected samples to highlight matters with farmers in surrounding counties.
“For more than a decade we have seen the Ash tree dying and disappearing from our landscape due to the Ash dieback disease that has decimated the Ash tree population countrywide,” said a spokesperson for the group.
“The first case of Ash dieback was discovered in County Leitrim in 2011 and it quickly spread like wildfire through our hedgerows. Within a few years it became apparent that no tree would be left unaffected.
“But here we are more than ten years on and it seems that all is not lost. A small percentage of trees are showing signs of resistance to the disease and some showing no signs of the disease at all even though they are surrounded by trees that have died of the disease,” added the spokesperson.
Carrick On Shannon Tidy Towns have decided to take action and have set up a conservation project in an attempt to save the Ash trees from disappearing altogether or to help speed up their recovery if there is to be one.
“We are asking all farmers and landowners in the Leitrim and Roscommon area to keep an eye out for healthy trees on their property over the coming months and years. The trees should be showing little or no sign of the disease. The aim is to collect seeds from these healthy trees and grow them into saplings and get them planted back into the hedgerows. We understand there are no guarantees that these offspring will grow into healthy trees resistant to the disease but at the same time we understand it is better to try than to sit back and not do anything at all.
We have set up a Facebook page “Carrick On Shannon Ash Tree Conservation Project” where we can receive messages or send a message to 0871223110 to be added to the “Ash Tree Project” Whatsapp group. We are sure everyone agrees the Auld Ash provided for us for long enough and now it’s our turn to help the Ash,” concluded the spokesperson.
