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Good video, which puts into perspective that it's not "just" "clear and rebuild the lines and then reopen" but there's also having to clear around the lines for access too.
Good vid that, ending on a tease though!
I still don’t see how they all had to be felled, yet right next door you can continue to hold DH mtb events through forestry
Anyhow. Would love them to build some XC / Trail / beginner jump lines. Massive lack of this type of stuff in the area, and would be logical with the lack of trees and lack of this type of riding in the area
TBH biosecurity stuff is just really difficult, and stuff like "closing a bike park" is basically small stuff in the grand scheme of "trying to save forests and species", they're painting frantically and fast with a very big brush so it will always make a mess. Ramorum is a bastard of a thing, because it infects so many species so if clearfelling superspreader larch can save other stuff, it's almost certainly worth it.
The question is just whether it's going to work. I'm no expert but it seems there's a really good chance that in 20 years they look back on this response and go "yeah that didn't just fail, it was pointless to try", in the face of a disease that can affect 100+ species including some of the most common in the country.
(equally it's possible that it fails, but on a long enough timescale it works out positive anyway as we regrow with more diverse species, who can tell. Plenty of massive variables for UK plantlife coming up in our lifetimes...)
The other thing is, there always more infected trees to cut than there are machines and people available to cut them. So at some point, if there's going to be a infected forests <somewhere> you need to get smart about which ones you prioritise and which you leave alone. Perhaps that's already happened, probably the bike park made revo a potential super-spreader... But equally, maybe there's an argument for avoiding the ones with the highest human value or rolling a dice on those.
(I still look at the start of this and think it looks wrong. If it was about spreading and closure was essential, then the period after the closure was announced, but before it closed, just seems mad. Like sending an infectious plague victim out clubbing before they quarantine.)
Biggest issue seems to be that they don't feel they can boot strap it again. Understandable but just make the financial commitment massive
@funkydunc different tree types as I understand. Rhyd Y Felin just down the road hasn't had the same issues.
I still look at the start of this and think it looks wrong. If it was about spreading and closure was essential, then the period after the closure was announced, but before it closed, just seems mad. Like sending an infectious plague victim out clubbing before they quarantine.
or delaying a lockdown whilst the grand national and major football events went on! The “right” decisions are always easy in hindsight.
Are they replanting with a wider range of species/variants of tree? I thought it was just going to be the same stuff after a period of time that was determined to make the area disease free...
or delaying a lockdown whilst the grand national and major football events went on! The “right” decisions are always easy in hindsight.
That's an entirely different argument as with foresight it was easy to see that not stopping those was a super dumb idea.
I wonder if they have some kinda insurance paying out whilst their shut - they certainly don't feel like a small company desperately trying to re-open and resume revenue as quickly as they possibly can