Living Ash Project website
As a partner in the Living Ash Project the Sylva Foundation is asking for help in adding ash trees to an important nationwide survey.
As Chalara ash dieback spreads across the British Isles, the Living Ash Project aims to identify and secure ash trees that show good tolerance to the fungus that causes the dieback (Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus) and use these individual trees as the foundation of a breeding programme.
We are asking members of the public to get involved by tagging up to five ash trees that will be surveyed once every year. Tag packs consisting of five tags have been developed, each with a unique identification number, plus aluminium nails to affix it to the tree stem (these do not harm the tree), together with full instructions. Once that the trees are tagged, we ask volunteers to complete a simple annual survey about its health. The survey is hosted by our partner Ashtag and is available online on computer, tablet or smartphone. Volunteers will be asked to pinpoint the tree location(s) on an online map, take a photograph, then answer five straightforward questions.
We have a limited number of tags to give away free, on a first-come, first-served basis. If you would like to receive a pack of five tree tags for free please:
Partners in the Living Ash Project will be assessing the many thousands of trees that exist already in a breeding programme for ash, and we will use citizen science to screen the wider population – and this is where your help is needed. Later, we will produce trees that show good tolerance to the fungus, and plant them on the public forest estate as an archive, freely available to the forest industry. We will also develop techniques to enable us to rapidly produce large numbers of tolerant trees for reforestation. The five year project is funded by Defra.
Read more about the Living Ash Project
