Portugal Trying To Contain Deadly Pine Wilt Nematode Within 1/9th Of Nation's Forests - Reuters

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Pine Wilt Nematode was first detected in Portugal in 1999, but has spread at an alarming rate recently. The EU has offered Portugal up to 8 million euros (US$10.64 million) to control the plague and Portugal's government has said that the drastic measures should help control the spread of nematodes.

The corridor is meant to contain the pests inside 2.47 million acres (1 million hectares) of land, or about one ninth of Portugal's total forest, and stop them from spreading elsewhere in Europe. European Union inspectors visited the country a few weeks ago to check the situation. "If only they would have spared the healthy ones," said Silva, adding that he had planned to sell some of his pine trees to a wood panel factory.

But the government has blamed landowners for failing to destroy infected trees in time to stop the disease from spreading further. Recent droughts have also helped spread the blight as it weakened trees' defences. And some landowners have not been as resigned to the government measures as Silva. "One pointed a rifle at me and told me to leave immediately," said Rogerio Rocha, a lumberjack who was hired by the government to help cut the forest corridor.

Despite the resistance, the government expects to complete the corridor by the end of the month -- before insects emerging in the warm spring months begin to spread the organisms again.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40969/story.htm