Sudden Oak Death Now Prevalent 20% Of California - New Strain Discovered

[hatrack]

MARIN, Calif. -- For eight years, a mysterious pathogen called sudden oak death has eluded researchers as it has killed off thousands of oak trees along the California coastline. The highly contagious disease, which causes trees to develop blood-colored oozing cankers before they dry up entirely, has spread through state parks and private ranches alike, and it now covers one-fifth of the California landscape.

Last fall, when scientists released a pesticide that can inoculate the trees against the infection, authorities hailed it as an important victory for western forests. But the discovery of a second strain of the disease on a potted plant in a Portland, Ore., nursery has sparked fears that the blight may prove to be resistant to the treatment, posing an even greater scientific challenge.

"What happens when something of this size hits in the public health field? You get an international outcry about SARS," said Matteo Garbelotto, the University of California at Berkeley plant pathologist who first identified sudden oak death in 1995. "But when an environmental crisis of this scope hits, no one pays any attention -- it flies under the radar. Something similar to this happened with Dutch elm disease, and the one that really wiped out all the elms was the second wave."

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The devastation is clearest in the area around majestic Big Sur State Park, just south of Monterey Bay. Long renowned for its granite cliffs and 1,000-year-old redwood trees, Big Sur closed several of its canyon trails last year when park officials realized campers could be hit by falling timber. Several paths are lined with groves of gray, dying tan oaks, and rangers have put up signs warning park visitors to wash their boots and tires with Lysol to keep from bringing the spores with them."

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28026-2004Jan18.html

[dusty64]

1. VERY disturbing.

The Oak is a basic food source for many species.