The sad sight of the Canal du Midi

[NormanH]

Now that the tree felling is finished in this sector:

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[Fittersmate]

In God's name why did they do this? Utter vandalism!!

[mint]

[quote user="Fittersmate"]In God's name why did they do this? Utter vandalism!![/quote]

As I understand it, the trees were diseased.

[Quillan]

This was on Country Files about 6 months ago plus the devastation in the UK and they still can't find a cure. They mentioned something about a particular tree of the same type in northern Europe somewhere (I can't remember where, a Scandinavian country seems to ring a bell)  that is resilient to Ceratocystis platani.

As to why then for those that are unaware the following might help.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15305048

and more recently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23447511

They say the Ash will disappear in Europe within the next 30 years.

[Gardian]

No.

The Plane trees have been attacked by a virulent disease (can't remember the exact details, but somebody will know) and the felling has been done in order to try to halt the spread.

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="Gardian"]

No.

The Plane trees have been attacked by a virulent disease (can't remember the exact details, but somebody will know) and the felling has been done in order to try to halt the spread.

[/quote]

That's my understanding too, that they have canker stain, and disease-free trees are being planted in their place - at an enormous cost of course. Parts of the canal with trees are breathtakingly beautiful.

[Quillan]

Ceratocystis platani

See my post below and the links.

[Jonzjob]

We have been frequent canal walkers in the 9 years we have lived here and it has brought me close to tears seeing what has had to be done.

The planes weren't the original trees planted. They were a mixture of which oak was a big part. The thinking being that if and when the barges were in need of repair the wood could be sourced from the cnal. The planes, platan, were planted later for 3 reasons. 1. they sheltered the canal from the sun ane cut down the evaporation. 2. the roots re-enforced the banks and 3. the leaves falling into the water sank to the bottom and helped to line it and stop water seepage. There are still some different trees allong the banks including a lovely stretch from the écluse de Fresquel to the écluse St Jean by Pont Rouge and they are cypress. Near Trebes there are a lot of tulip trees, the flowers loking like big tulips. They are beautiful!

The desease is thought to have been brought down from the north of France by a couple of 'tree surgons' who had been working on deseased trees up there and didn't disinfect their tools properly!

One of the biggest problems on the canal is that the boaters, who are told NOT to tie up to roots and trunks take no notice and by doing so damage the bark. The fungus is carried by the canal water and infects the trees by the damaged bark.

At the port in Trebes they have planted the new resistant trees an they all carry an individual lable to prove the resistance and are numbered. At the écluse de Leveque near Villedubert,  they were the first to be felled, they have replanted with ash if I remember correctly.

This was what the road used to be like alongside the canal where the campervans used to be able to park up

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This was last year

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One of those labels

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This was one of the most beautiful parts around here. The bridge is le pont du Rode, one of the original bridges

[URL=http://s47.photobucket.com/user/Jonzjob/media/Johns/PontduRodewithtrees.jpg.html][IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/PontduRodewithtrees.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Just one side cut, but what a difference

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And one of my favorite stretches. I call it the Cathedral because the trees touch over the canal about 100 feet up! I haven't been along there for a good while now so I have no idea if it's been felled yet?

[URL=http://s47.photobucket.com/user/Jonzjob/media/Johns/CanalduMidicathedral.jpg.html][IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/CanalduMidicathedral.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Lastly, a lovely tulip tree flower. Note that the leaf only had 4 lobes..

[URL=http://s47.photobucket.com/user/Jonzjob/media/Johns/Tuliptreeflower_zpsecbfaac3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/Tuliptreeflower_zpsecbfaac3.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Edit  :  -  I forgot to add. The cost estimate is about 200,000,000 @ and if the trees are not replanted the canal could loose its World Heritage title.

[Patf]

There are some plane trees that are affected, in the Gers, and others are ok.

They seem keen on pollarding them here, which at first makes them look ugly, but maybe helps to strengthen new growth?

I think they burn the prunings.

[Jonzjob]

With the deseased trees they have to burn everything on site and that includes the huge trunks. The écluseries aren't allowed any of the wood for their own fires as they are when they are pruned.

There were some enormous wood chippers along the bank near Pont Rouge when they were felling the trees there and the fires burned for days.

After that the stumps and roots are removed. Gawd knows what they do about the roots that are supporting the canal banks? With more boats and those that ignore the 8Kph speed limit, and there are loads of those, the bank erosion will increase. Why on Earth the boats aren't governed to a max of 8K I have no idea, but that's a different subject.

On the subject of the boats. There are far too many on the canal now and the queues at the locks in July & August has got far too big, especially when an hotel barge will go straight to the front and through thus holding everyone else up even more. The boat companies have just got too greedy and they will kill their own golden goose me-thinks?

[Alan Zoff]

Some years ago the council cut down a beautiful plane tree in a Cheltenham park as a precautionary measure, only to find rather too late that it was free of the suspected disease. They replaced it with a lump of scrap metal (sorry, "art") on some badly laid concrete. Cost a small fortune, I recall, somewhat to the annoyance of a number of council tax payers. 

[Judith]

As far as I understand it, the disease spread  because of the monoculture of the plane trees, hence the need now to cut all the diseased trees down and destroy in situ.  They will  be replaced with different species, which are more resistant.

As I also understand it, the speed of craft wearing away the banks hasn't helped (that's being polite), I am 5 mins away from the canal and see the speed at which some boats travel regularly.  We have friends who keep a boat on the canal, they can wax lyrical about the holidaymakers ...

Our bit of the canal is currently closed for its annual cleaning, maybe this is when they do the repairs to the banks.

Whilst it does look sad at the moment with no water, so far we still have the trees, so maybe it will be our turn next year, as I understand it, almost all the trees will be replaced eventually.

[Jonzjob]

That seems to be totally correct Judith. With the single type of tree, planted at about the same time meant that even without the current situation the trees would all come to the end of their lives at the same time. But a couple of hundred years back the age thing would possibly have not been regarded? The desease? No way, me-thinks?

The trees will be replaced or the canal will loose the World Heritage funding, €€€€€€€€€€€€, will vanish [:-))]

[Clarkkent]

Is there any World Heritage funding, or is there an undertaking by the recipient country that - in return for the privilege - the site will be maintained? Surely, it is the accreditation that will be lost.

It is believed that the pathogen, Ceratocystus platani, arrived in France on 6 June 1944. It was, apparently, carried by wooden ammunition boxes accompanying US troops liberating Europe.  If I recall correctly, the particular variety of plane came from Spain, where it was known to thrive in high temperatures. I did hear that they may be replaced by London planes, but I don't know whether they would be any more resistant to the fungus.

The main reason Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years in France was because he had been asked by Francois I to build a canal between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The task, however, was beyond Leonardo who couldn't find a way of filling it with water. The problem was eventually solved by Pierre Paul Riquet, a tax farmer, who virtually bankrupted himself constructing the canal.

 

[Jonzjob]

It was a great shame for Pierre Paul because he died just a few months before the canal opened and yes, it almost bankrupt him. His sons completed it. He was a salt tax collector. That was where his fortune came from, legally too..

He started the whole project by building the Bassin de St Ferréol at the top of the hill from Revel. A 67 hectaire lake and is quite beautiful. The canal is fed from there by a series of rigoles, small feeder canals, and even those have to be seen to be believed. They carry the water about 15 Km to the water shed of the canal, the highest point, at Naurouze. The most incredible thing for me is that every lock going away from Naurouze is downhill. All the way to Toulouse and all the way to Sète and there is one stetch towards Sète that is 34 miles long without any locks at all. Totally flat! How on Earth could he build something so acurately that long? He must have had an oil fires Laser [:-))]

14,000 navies and 14 years to build. P P Riquet also looked after his workers well and gave them housing and good medical treatment. Something very unusual in those days.

I love the canal and the history behind it [B]

Edit :  -  I forgot to say. UNESCO do give money for the canal. A good friend who had a 30 meter peniche moored near us as a gite told me what the amount was, but with a head like mine I can't remember the amount? It is a large sum.  I will try to find out.