Having resisted the ravages of Dutch Elm disease that has seen many of its relations, particularly here in East Anglia, wiped off the landscape, the Lynfield Elm, as it is affectionately known, now faces its biggest challenge yet. How to respond to the threat of the chainsaw. An impossible task? Maybe not…..
This grand old tree stands on a traffic island that separates traffic leaving and joining the A12 at Junction 21. Part of its crown is dead and fungus has been found at its base that is likely to weaken the tree causing it to become unstable. Not an ideal state to be in for a tree so close to a busy road. It is being removed, perhaps only a little before its time therefore, as part of a major redesign of the road layout. It is close by an extensive housing development that will benefit from the revised layout.
On hearing the news of its planned removal, but before the health of the tree was fully understood, many objections poured in to the authorities pointing out the tree’s prominent location and, importantly, unique value as an elm that has demonstrated an ability to resist Dutch Elm disease.
A feasibility study commissioned to assess its suitability for lifting and transplanting concluded, perhaps not surprisingly, that the tree cannot be satisfactorily relocated.
Elms regenerate from root suckers that are genetically the same as their parent, which means, in this case, retaining the resistance to Dutch Elm disease. An assessment by specialists identified a number of these suckers suitable for lifting and transplanting. But doing so successfully needs specialist skills and techniques. These will be applied by experts to lift and nurture several suckers that will be transplanted, when ready, to new sites nearby with space to grow and develop without the need for pruning. The plan is to plant the young trees in two groups of three. In such groupings, roots eventually grow together sharing nutrients helping the grouping thrive.
This plan may not have been developed had the Town Council, Witham Tree Group, Witham and Countryside Society and scores of residents not raised objections to the original plan to fell such an important rare tree with resistance to Dutch Elm disease.
The ‘Lynfield’ Elm will live on therefore through its offspring.
Allan Waight
November 2023
