NATURAL Resources Wales is to hold two days of community drop-in events to let local people find out more about how they are tackling the on-set of the deadly disease that affects larch trees.

Phytophthora Ramorum is the latin name for Larch Disease, which has forced the organisation to fell 80 hectares of the trees in the Wye Valley. But now a much larger number of trees, around 300,000 in fact, covering 270 hectares, are now known to be infected and will also have to be felled.

Over the whole of the South Wales area there are reckoned to be 1.2 million infected larch trees, which cover an area of around 4,000 hectares of forest.

The drop-in events are to be held at The Narth Village Hall, Narth, which is situated near Monmouth, on Thursday February 6 between 2pm and 7pm, and Friday February 7 from 10am to 1pm.

As well as representatives from Natural Resources Wales, the events will also be attended by 'key partners', including Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Gwent Wildlife Trust, and Gwent Police.

Natural Resources Wales has committed £2.5 million to try and tackle the problem disease, which will be invested in both felling infected trees, and also trialling a pioneering treatment to inject sick trees with a herbicide, to prevent further spread.

They have also reported that where infected trees are felled, it plans to replant new tree species: 'to make future woodlands more diverse, more resilient to disease, and more attractive places to visit.'