UCD Ash for Future workshop trains citizen scientists to identify and report healthy ash

The decimation of Ireland’s iconic ash trees is heartbreaking - but you can help bring them back.

Agriculture and Food development company (opens in a new window)Teagasc needs the general public to identify and report healthy ash trees, particularly ones flourishing alongside trees that have been badly affected.

Ash dieback disease arrived here in 2012 and though it will affect almost all ash trees and kill 90% of them, some 5% will be highly tolerant. Teagasc is generating a collection of these highly tolerant trees with the aim of eventually repopulating the Irish landscape with them.

They are already growing these more tolerant trees at sites in the Phoenix Park and in Kilkenny (who must be keen to make hurleys with them down the line!)

Last week the UCD citizen science community of practice held a workshop with UCD landscape architect Sophia Meeres and Dheeraj Rathore, tree improvement researcher at Teagasc.

This was followed by an ‘ash walk’ on campus, where Dheeraj showed participants how to identify Class 1 healthy ash trees.

Thanks to everyone who came along. We made the above video to help people report a healthy ash (opens in a new window)here.