Gougane Barra to close for felling of trees

One of the country’s most scenic forest parks, Gougane Barra in West Cork, is set to close for up to six months to allow for the felling of thousands of trees affected by fungal disease.

Coillte said yesterday that between 25% and30% of the park, approximately 16,000 trees, primarily Japanese larch, will be felled in an effort to contain further spread of the disease, caused by an organism named Phytophthora ramorum.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Ireland is only the second country where the disease, also known as Sudden Oak Death, has been found on Japanese larch. Up to 2010, when it was first detected here on Japanese larch, it was regarded as a disease of broadleaf trees, linked to the presence of wild rhododendron shrubs.