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.)
