Canal du Midi

[brianagain]

Sad to read this article this morning about the fungus affecting the canalside trees - they are so much a part of the canal itself

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/27/french-axe-thousands-plane-trees?INTCMP=SRCH

Brian (again)

[idun]

It has been a problem in France for years now. Very sad to hear that these ones are now so damaged.

 

We lost every tree on our Place de la Mairie and they replanted new ones, eventually. The trees ill health was due to bad, is it 'pollarding'?over many many years, apparently more like butchering than doing it properly.

[pachapapa]

Oh my Dawg!

• This article was amended on 28 July 2011. The original referred to the most beautiful canapé of plane trees in Europe. This has been corrected.

Taking two weeks in Sallèles d'Aude in august, amongst other things will check out the trees on the midi, junction and robine.

[NormanH]

I believe it is a fungal infection

" Un champignon, le chancre coloré (ceratocystisplatani), a infesté les

plantations emblématiques de platanes sur les berges du site et menacent

la stabilité des arbres. Pour des raisons de sécurité, ils pourraient

être abattus. "

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/environnement/les-42-000-platanes-du-canal-du-midi-menaces_1003308.html

I know the canal well (I see it every day) and having had a chance recently to compare it with the canal de Rhone à Sete where there are no trees I hate to think what it will be like.

I believe there is a project to put up plastic replacements , but that may be a 'poisson d'avril'

[nomoss]

I live near the Canal du Midi too, and have my boat there. We have been sailing the canals since 1980.

I fail to understand what VNF are trying to do, but I'm beginning to cotton on.

They poison infected trees by injecting them to hasten their demise. The trees they inject don't look anywhere near being on the point of falling down or being even slightly dangerous. There are many trees covered in ivy, which will eventually kill them, but this is totally ignored.

Gangs of people with big machinery eventually come to cut down the trees. After felling them they laboriously cut them up on the canal bank, with (presumably infected) chippings going everywhere, then make a big show of wrapping the logs in plastic sheet to cart them down the road a short way to make a big bonfire with them.

I think the big clue is that somebody is making a lot of money out of this operation.

They put up ludicrous signs saying they are saving the trees by cutting them down. In truth, I think someone's brother-in-law is making a fortune.

Here is a friend's website dedicated to the subject http://www.canaldumidi.net:80/

[Loiseau]

Could you get your friend to amend the red-on-green text, nomoss?

I'd love to read it, but the effect of the bold red on bright green makes it impossible. (I don't know if it's due to different focal lengths of the two colours - but I bet somebody else will come along to tell me.)

Angela

[nomoss]

I can try, Loiseau, but I don't see him often, he moves around quite a lot.

Also, he accesses the internet from his boat via a very limited service, which is all he can afford, so I don't think he can edit the site at will.

Only the first couple of paragraphs are in red on green, the rest is somewhat more readable.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="nomoss"]

I live near the Canal du Midi too, and have my boat there. We have been sailing the canals since 1980.

I fail to understand what VNF are trying to do, but I'm beginning to cotton on.

They poison infected trees by injecting them to hasten their demise. The trees they inject don't look anywhere near being on the point of falling down or being even slightly dangerous. There are many trees covered in ivy, which will eventually kill them, but this is totally ignored.

Gangs of people with big machinery eventually come to cut down the trees. After felling them they laboriously cut them up on the canal bank, with (presumably infected) chippings going everywhere, then make a big show of wrapping the logs in plastic sheet to cart them down the road a short way to make a big bonfire with them.

I think the big clue is that somebody is making a lot of money out of this operation.

They put up ludicrous signs saying they are saving the trees by cutting them down. In truth, I think someone's brother-in-law is making a fortune.

Here is a friend's website dedicated to the subject http://www.canaldumidi.net:80/

[/quote]

Perhaps normal sources of financing the poisonous dwarf are drying up.[:D][:D][:D]

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2011/07/29/gueant-et-sarkozy-mis-en-cause-pour-des-contrats-avec-la-libye-en-2007_1553990_823448.html#ens_id=1523890

http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/280711/les-documents-takieddine-sarkozygueant-le-grand-soupcon-libyen

[sid]

[quote user="Loiseau"]Could you get your friend to amend the red-on-green text, nomoss? I'd love to read it, but the effect of the bold red on bright green makes it impossible. (I don't know if it's due to different focal lengths of the two colours - but I bet somebody else will come along to tell me.) Angela[/quote]

I think it's a poor choice of colour combinations too.

As a temporary measure you can select the area of text (click/drag) and on my machine at least it then shows as white text on a blue background... much clearer!

[Gardengirl]

I read that article too; it's very sad, as the trees are a marvellous sight along the canal. I read that replacement trees which are resistant to the fungus are planned. But what a huge cost for it all!

[Jonzjob]

Only about 1.8 million € GG. That's for the cutting and replanting with resistant trees.

One theory is that a couple of blokes working on infected trees in the North of France then came down here to carry on with their cropping and didn't bother to clean their kit properly. Thus we now loose 40,000 trees along the Canal. Trebes looks totally awful now and the first ones to go, about 2 years back, at the Ecluse d'Villedubert made me want to cry! 200 beautiful trees because of a couple of lazy gits! And the rest to follow!!!

[NormanH]

The Guardian has finally caught up with this Forum !

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/13/canal-du-midi-under-threat

[Jonzjob]

Nomoss, initially I took one look at your friends site and didn't go further, but today I read on. I am not sure where you friend got some of his info, especially about the canal not being drained. Sections are drained every year for maintainence including replacing lock gates, installing ladders in the locks, repointing locks and bank managment. Last year the port of Carcassonne was drained so the lock gates could be changed.

They even drain the Bassin St Ferriol about every 10 years and did so a few years back. It was very strange to walk around the lake about 100 foot down! The barrage has to be seen from that angle to really believe what it must have taken to build it!

[nomoss]

Jonzjob. I know it's a pretty carp site, but he feels very strongly about the trees and I guess that's the best he can do. He is a cook, not a rocket scientist. [:)]

The site used to be a lot better, I'm not sure if someone else has become involved in it.

I don't know where he got his ideas about draining, I've emailed him to ask.

[nomoss]

I contacted John about points raised above.

Re. the text colour he replied:

i will change the text color, but obviously some of your friends dont care about the trees . otherwise they would have different  things to point out.

Re draining the canal, he was referring to the 56km section to Beziers. I suggeted he should clarify this. He replied:

perhaps, but the point is the trees. Otherwise i would not have the website, and would begin to profit off of the name !! canaldumidi.net      Thanks fro sending it around anyway, all awareness is better than none...

 

[Jonzjob]

I could take umbridge to your friends attitude. He is not the only one who is concerned about the trees.

The point about the colours is that when anyone looks at the near impossibility to read red on green they just go away from the site instead of scrolling down to read it! That being the case makes the site less useful than it should be.

We walk the canal most days and know a great deal about the history of the canal and love those trees.

It will be interesting to see just what happens when Veola take over from the VNF?

[nomoss]

He does have a chip on his shoulder, and I know that he is not the only one concerned about the trees, but he is the only one I know who is at least trying to do something.

I didn't know Veolia were taking over from VNF.

Do you have any further information on this, please?

I suppose this will mean a near doubling of prices, as happened when Lyonnaise des Eaux, a similar conglomerate, took over our water supply. If so, maybe there will be some commensurate improvement in maintenance of the canal itself, like a bit of dredging and repair of banks.

Enforcement of speed limits would be major improvement, too. A friend in one of the hire companies tells me they charge a higher price for time run at over a certain rpm, but that the difference has no effect at all on most customers. My theory is they are the same slobs who hog the roads in their "prestige" cars.

[nomoss]

Just to advise, John has changed the red on green text which some found objectionable on his site http://www.canaldumidi.net:80/

He can answer any other comments or suggestions via the email address on the site (bottom of page)

Maybe Jonzjob could answer my question about Veolia?

[Quillan]

Bit on the slow side but I have only just read this thread.

Whilst I appreciate some of the anger at cutting down these trees perhaps a bit of research on the specific disease might highlight the necessity to tree this very seriously and quickly. I believe the 'injections' are more to do with testing a possible antidote rather than any attempt to kill the tree but of course you must have an already ill tree to test on. Sadly they don't appear to be working.

The disease, Ceratocystis platani is very virulent and can be spread by many different means hence the protective methods required. The problem is people being people and possibly the lack of educating those that use the towpath on a day to day basis and of course the holiday makers who take their holidays on or by the canal just spreads the disease further. Then there is the elements of course and in particular the wind as these are spores. The only way to eradicate this is to cut and burn hoping that in doing so you can save the good ones.

English readers may find the following information of interest.

Ceratocystis fimbriata f. platani is a wilt pathogen causing pronounced xylem staining, severe wilting and tree mortality. Staining can extend longitudinally in the sapwood at a rate of 50–100 cm per year and can reach the heartwood along the medullary rays. Infected trees exhibit sparse chlorotic foliage and sometimes sunken, elongated or lens-shaped bark cankers that can become roughened and black with age. Infection commonly occurs through fresh wounds, although transfer between trees can occur across root contacts.

For unknown reasons the disease seems to have become less significant in the United States in recent years, but in south-east France and Greece there have been serious losses of shade trees, with infected trees dying within 3–7 years. This pathogen poses a significant risk as it affects a key urban amenity tree species and can be spread easily through the movement of infected cuttings. It also produces resiliant, long-lived spores which can persist in soil and unsterilised pruning tools. As the disease mainly proliferates through human activity the spread can be limited by sourcing plant material from regions free of the disease, and by disinfecting pruning tools with alcohol. Larger agricultural equipment such as terracing machinery should be jet-washed with water to remove any contaminated soil. Affected trees decline so markedly that it is unlikely that the disease could be overlooked, so it is unlikely that if it has reached the United Kingdom it would remained undetected. However, if readers are aware of any trees exhibiting such symptoms we would be grateful for further details. (Further information can be found in Walter, 1946, Griffin, 1968, Vigouroux, 1979 and Panconesi, 1981)

Source http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/pathology_note07.pdf/$FILE/pathology_note07.pdf

I seem to remember some time back a load of these trees were found to be infected, they were in Windsor park and have been destroyed, Charles was not amused but understood it needed to be done.

 

[NormanH]

The state will only pay a third for the works that will need to be done, leaving the rest for locals to pay:

http://www.midilibre.fr/2011/10/21/passe-d-armes-en-vue-autour-des-platanes-du-canal-du-midi,405936.php

[pachapapa]

Whilst holidaying in Salleles d'Aude in august this year and cognisant of the problem on the canal du midi I noted that much of the canal de la jonction was lined with pins séculaires.

[IMG]http://www.sallelesdaude.fr/IMG/jpg/canal_x225_.jpg[/IMG]

[Jonzjob]

I have no idea which part of the Junction is in your photo Pachapapa, but when I crewed for my friend, about 4 years back last March, in his 30 M peniche and we stopped about a kilometer past Salleles I took this photo looking back towards Salleles and they are all platan trees. I can't remember seeing anything else on the way down, but we were both cold and tired at the time so I may well be wrong? I hope I am.

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Lodelamorning.jpg[/IMG]

It was taken just before the ecluse before it crosses the Aude and becomes the Robine. That is where the dry dock is that we put the Lodela on for her pressure wash and repaint. She's here and lovely http://www.penichelodela.com/lodela2/site/accueil/accueil.htm

There are a lot of stretches that have conifers as well on the Midi and there are oak and a lot of tulip trees in there too. The tulip flowers are beautiful and the leaves are so different in that instead of the usual 5 fingers to a leaf there are just 4!

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Nature/Tuliptreeflower.jpg[/IMG]

[pachapapa]

From Sallèles towards Amphoralis there are pins parasols, Sallèles towards the Aude there are plane; although we crossed the railway bridge to the south side of the Aude to reach the start of the Robine I cant remember the trees there but I have some photos.

By the way have you been on the multiple locks at Beziers that was a memorable site.

[NormanH]

Not just memorable...World Heritage...

[Jonzjob]

We haven't been along the Canal that far East yet, on our list..

World Heritage Site at the mo Norman and the committee are going to do an inspection soon to see if it is going to stay that way because of the trees situation! That really will not help the situation at all me-thinks?

One other thing that is not helping the situation is also that the Tupperware tub hire companies, our name for the plastic hire boats, are putting more and more boats on the Canal and it's getting to the point of overload with longer and longer delays at the locks and the 2 year trial where the locks didn't close for the lunch hour in July and August has now stopped and there are always huge ques after lunch! I think it's called 'tune for maximum smoke'?

I now wonder just what Vioila, or whatever their name is, are going to do to screw more cash out of the Canal?