AN EVER spreading disease will cause thousands of Japanese Larches in Carmarthenshire to be felled.
The woodland around the Roman gold mines at Pumsaint is home to around 5,500 of the trees, which are being infected with phytophthora ramorum, causing fatal lesions on tree trunks.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) started felling trees in 2010, when the pathogen was found in the Afan Valley of Neath Port Talbot.
They have stated that the trees that are cut down will be replaced with native broadleaf species.
Spread by spores released from infected trees, the fungal disease does not pose a threat to either humans or animals, and wood from trees chopped down can still be used.
Although much of Wales has been affected, the impact is being felt greatest in the south, and now Carmarthenshire County Council have given the NRW planning permission to construct a road into the woodland, enabling the felling of trees later this year.
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