🚀 go-pugleaf

Press release on Tuesday 17th September 1996

The Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA)  will decide whether to
go ahead with cutting down all fifty four of the famous 200 year old
Rusland Beeches at their meeting of the full Board  on October 1st.

If this decision goes ahead it will send shock waves all over Britain, and
possiblythe world to those that have mature trees overhanging either roads
or public footpaths with a right of way.  It will say that similar action
of felling apparently safe beautiful trees is not only permissible but
desirable if there is the remotest chance of  the public being  injured as
they travel or move close to them . A study of this area of Risk Analysis
is  urgently needed.

The LDNPA plan to take this extraordinary step to fell all of these
magnificent  beeches which run alongside a country lane because they
believe that they are or will soon become unsafe. This is a complete
contradiction to their role as protectors of the environment and comes
about because they became the owners of the land that they acquired form
the Archibald Family in order to take care of them. Thus they are both
judge and applicant in this unusual case.

The LDNPA are not taking this decision without considerable opposition and
this decision was only recommended by a 8-6 vote in the subcommittee
meeting of 19 July 1996. This was the second time the full board had asked
them to reconsider their recommendation. Even at this meeting they went far
beyond the proposal of Guy Weller the officer guiding the project through
the LDNPA who was asking for the felling of only 26 trees.

We believe that this judgment casts doubt on the competence of those making
these decisions. They ignored the advice of their officers to only remove
some of the trees which were believed to be diseased. Experts agree that
these Beeches can live for another 100 and possibly 200 years.Their
arguments for cutting down these healthy trees show them to be completely
out of touch with the feelings of the general public, and out of line with
the expressed policy of national organisations (see appendix)

In February 1996 Derek Patch of the AAIS (see appendix) performed a survey
of the trees which was commissioned by the LDNPA . His report provoked an
outcry from the people of the Rusland valley and others that knew the trees
well. Roger Cartwright and Andrew Lee who were chosen because of their
successful work with maintaining old trees in the North of England  to do
an independent survey and report,  by a group led by Marianne Bennett who
used to live at the nearby Rusland Hall. Over 3000 people from this rural
area also signed a petition titled �Save the Rusland Beeches� and many
wrote letters to the Authority, the South Lakeland District Council and
their MPs.

Both Roger Cartwright and Derek Patch described almost identical physical
condition of the trees, except that the former saw them in June and not in
February. It was the interpretation of whether the trees were dangerous
that differed dramatically. Cartwright recommended that at the outside only
7 trees were at all dangerous, while Patch claimed that 26 should be felled
because they were dangerous even though nine of them would fall into the
wood and not the roadbecause of their position or the way they are leaning.
Patch drew attention to many potential weaknesses such as a fork in the
tree where rotting might develop and the possible  presence of malignant
fungi. 

Now Edward Milner finds that even if old trees become hollow they still
have substantial resistance to wind and can live to 400. ( appendix)

Patch drew attention to the phenomenon of Summer Branch Drop which can
affect Beech trees because they are prone to have long thin branches so
that after a heavy shower branches can suddenly fail. However this occurs
with trees subjected to a long drought and the soil these beeches stand on
is free drainingat the bottom of a sllope where it constantly receives
water. Furthermore the branches over the road have already been pruned back
considerably leaving them to spread into the wood, with no reported
problem.

The complex issue of the safety of the Rusland Beeches is open to
unscientific misrepresentation.

We believe that one or two on the Board of the Lake District National Park
Authority (LDNPA) and the some of the Friends of the Lake District have
exploited this excessively.

As a former research scientist from both Glaxo Laboratories, Ulverston and
Shell Development Co., USA with several patents to my name. I have studied 
the bulk of the evidence presented to the LDNPA very carefully and find
that the public are being forced to accept a decision that is based on a
truly unscientific interpretation of the facts.

1. Mr Patch, the expert for the LDNPA declares in his highly negative and
report full of conjecture : 26 of the Beeches are dangerous. Of these, he
agrees 9, would only fall into the wood not the road and are thus be
extremely unlikely of injuring anyone ,  would become dangerous only
because other trees were taken down. Of the remaining 14, Mr Cartwright who
has years of experience predicting tree failure agrees 7 could go, to be
safe, but the rest are healthy needing no attention except some pruning.
Thus only 7 are in doubt mainly 					3
because their trunks fork and have a �potentially weak� structure. 			

The Board conclude:  axe all 54!

2. The scientific method requires a prediction to be made and the results
to be examined. Thus in 1984 Derek Patch also made a survey and his
recommendations (over cautious ?) to the LDNPA were carried out, since then
no trees of the 54 (a large sample) have come down, and very few branches,
even though subjected to high gales, and exceptional snow this year. Who
says there are 26 dangerous trees?

What is very serious is the above evidence that branches do not fall on the
road has never been considered or even asked for. Evidence from local
people or from the Highways Department (who would be involved in clearing
the road) or the Police (who would have dangerous situations reported to
them) has been totally ignored.

Yet this is evidence, that is reliable, from many people and can be easily
be verified.

3. The public that the Board seek to protect, those who for the most part
live in the Rusland Valley and have detailed knowledge of the trees,are
strongly opposed to the destruction . Over 3,000 signed petitions and 87
attended the public meeting in Rusland requested by the campaigner Marianne
Bennett so that people could express their views to the members and
officers of the LDNPA.

4. The Friends of the Lake District who are also split over this issue have
a strong lobby of purists who argue that beeches should not be allowed to
grow in Cumbria anyway and are overly concerned about the spread of beech
to the detriment of other species.

We do not believe that the board has been allowed to receive a balanced
view of either the opinions of the alternative experts (Mr Cartwright was
not invited to review his findings at a site meeting with  board members
whereas Mr Patch was). 

According to Guy Weller of the LDNPA, the petition has not been accepted as
a realistic expression of the people that signed it and letters from the
public have only been given weight if they presented carefully argued
points. The Board has been swayed by the views of its strong chairman and
the argument that Mr Patch is a reliable expert, who gives advice elsewhere
and needs no second opinion.

In our view Mr Patch is being excessively over cautious and is avoiding
looking at the problem with Risk Analysis but following a path of extreme
safety. He proposes action that is completely at variance with the policies
of the Corporation of London in their care of the Burnham Beeches and of
Epping Forest (appendix).

It seems that Mr Patch is avoiding the risk of predicting a possible
failure by aiming at 100% safety. A felled tree is a safe tree, and the
board agree.

For further information contact
John Toothill, National Park Officer, Head Officer of  the  LDNPA, Kendal
Cumbria  01539 724555 Exit 236  Fax 01539 740822 
Email :- ldistrict@cix.compulink.co.uk  
Guy Weller, Project Manager re Rusland Beeches,  as above Exit 272

Geoff Dellow 
For the"Save the Rusland Beeches"Campaign.