Officials want to ensure that ruinous insects aren’t inadvertently imported into the state
By David Steves
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SALEM — One way to keep forest-ravaging insects and diseases from hitching a ride into Oregon is to make sure they don’t hide out in firewood brought by out-of-state campers.
That’s the idea behind a proposal that got its first hearing Monday. House Bill 2122 would give the Department of Agriculture authority to regulate out-of-state firewood. Imported wood would have to be treated, most likely with insect- and disease-killing heat. Labels on commercial firewood would have to list the source of the wood and describe its anti-pest treatment if it’s from outside Oregon.
The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, Feb 8, 2011 05:01AM
Monday, February 14, 2011
Estimated losses from Sudden Oak Death in CA, USA
Predicting the economic costs and property value losses attributed to sudden oak death damage in California (2010-2020)
Kovacs et al. 2011. Predicting the economic costs and property value losses attributed to sudden oak death damage in California (2010-2020) Journal of Environmental Management Volume 92, Issue 4, April 2011, Pages 1292-1302. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.12.018
Abstract
Phytophthora ramorum, cause of sudden oak death, is a quarantined, non-native, invasive forest pathogen resulting in substantial mortality in coastal live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and several other related tree species on the Pacific Coast of the United States. We estimate the discounted cost of oak treatment, removal, and replacement on developed land in California communities using simulations of P. ramorum spread and infection risk over the next decade (2010-2020). An estimated 734 thousand oak trees occur on developed land in communities in the analysis area. The simulations predict an expanding sudden oak death (SOD) infestation that will likely encompass most of northwestern California and warrant treatment, removal, and replacement of more than 10 thousand oak trees with discounted cost of $7.5 million. In addition, we estimate the discounted property losses to single family homes of $135 million. Expanding the land base to include developed land outside as well as inside communities doubles the estimates of the number of oak trees killed and the associated costs and losses. The predicted costs and property value losses are substantial, but many of the damages in urban areas (e.g. potential losses from increased fire and safety risks of the dead trees and the loss of ecosystem service values) are not included.
Kovacs et al. 2011. Predicting the economic costs and property value losses attributed to sudden oak death damage in California (2010-2020) Journal of Environmental Management Volume 92, Issue 4, April 2011, Pages 1292-1302. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.12.018
Abstract
Phytophthora ramorum, cause of sudden oak death, is a quarantined, non-native, invasive forest pathogen resulting in substantial mortality in coastal live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and several other related tree species on the Pacific Coast of the United States. We estimate the discounted cost of oak treatment, removal, and replacement on developed land in California communities using simulations of P. ramorum spread and infection risk over the next decade (2010-2020). An estimated 734 thousand oak trees occur on developed land in communities in the analysis area. The simulations predict an expanding sudden oak death (SOD) infestation that will likely encompass most of northwestern California and warrant treatment, removal, and replacement of more than 10 thousand oak trees with discounted cost of $7.5 million. In addition, we estimate the discounted property losses to single family homes of $135 million. Expanding the land base to include developed land outside as well as inside communities doubles the estimates of the number of oak trees killed and the associated costs and losses. The predicted costs and property value losses are substantial, but many of the damages in urban areas (e.g. potential losses from increased fire and safety risks of the dead trees and the loss of ecosystem service values) are not included.
UK House of Lords debate on SOD
Trees: Sudden Oak Death — Question
House of Lords debates, 10 February 2011, 11:21 am
Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to counter the spread of sudden oak death in trees.
Lord Henley (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Conservative)
My Lords, the Forestry Commission and the Food and Environment Research Agency, working in partnership with other organisations, are delivering a five-year programme in England and Wales against Phytophthora ramorum. The Government take this very seriously. Infected Japanese larch is being cleared from 7,920 acres of woodland in an effort to halt the spread of the disease.
The rest of the debate
House of Lords debates, 10 February 2011, 11:21 am
Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat)
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to counter the spread of sudden oak death in trees.
Lord Henley (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Conservative)
My Lords, the Forestry Commission and the Food and Environment Research Agency, working in partnership with other organisations, are delivering a five-year programme in England and Wales against Phytophthora ramorum. The Government take this very seriously. Infected Japanese larch is being cleared from 7,920 acres of woodland in an effort to halt the spread of the disease.
The rest of the debate
Thursday, February 10, 2011
First Report of Phytophthora ramorum Infecting California Red Fir in California
G. A. Chastagner and K. L. Riley, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University Research and Extension Center, Puyallup 98371
September 2010, Volume 94, Number 9
Page 1170
DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-94-9-1170B
Read the article in Plant Disease
September 2010, Volume 94, Number 9
Page 1170
DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-94-9-1170B
Read the article in Plant Disease
First Report of Phytophthora ramorum Infecting Mistletoe in California
Riley, K. L., and Chastagner, G. A. 2011. First report of Phytophthora ramorum infecting mistletoe in California. Online. Plant Health Progress doi:10.1094/PHP-2011-0209-02-BR.
Read the article here.
Read the article here.
Monday, February 7, 2011
An Ecological Approach to Sudden Oak Death Prevention
In workshops offered recently by Hidden Villa, ecologist Lee Klinger demonstrated ways to prevent Sudden Oak Death. If you've driven through our hills and noticed whole oaks turned brown and dead, you may be looking at an example of this blight on our oak trees.
Klinger's method mimics the effects of forest fires. His theory is that oaks are fire-adapted and thus need periodic fires to remain healthy.
“Fire replenishes minerals, removes competition and reduces sources of acidity such as mosses and lichens.” With Sudden Oak Death, the plant pathogen, phytophthora ramorum, attacks the trees through the trunks.
To mimic the effects of forest fires, he recommends cutting back underbrush that crowds the tree, removing mosses and lichens from the trunk of the oaks, spraying the tree trunk with lime, adding minerals to the soil and topping with compost and mulch.
Read more in the Los Altos Patch
Klinger's method mimics the effects of forest fires. His theory is that oaks are fire-adapted and thus need periodic fires to remain healthy.
“Fire replenishes minerals, removes competition and reduces sources of acidity such as mosses and lichens.” With Sudden Oak Death, the plant pathogen, phytophthora ramorum, attacks the trees through the trunks.
To mimic the effects of forest fires, he recommends cutting back underbrush that crowds the tree, removing mosses and lichens from the trunk of the oaks, spraying the tree trunk with lime, adding minerals to the soil and topping with compost and mulch.
Read more in the Los Altos Patch
Red alert in Britain's forests as Black death sweeps in
Just before Christmas, you could stand at the top of Crynant Forest in South Wales and not have a clue that there was a village in the valley below. Today, the view down to the little white houses is uninterrupted. Where in mid-December there were thousands of larch trees, now there is a mass of stumps and branches.
Read the rest of the article in The Telegraph. Ignore the parts about P. ramorum being "a lethal virus from Asia".
Read the rest of the article in The Telegraph. Ignore the parts about P. ramorum being "a lethal virus from Asia".
Sudden Oak Death Plus Wildfire: A Natural Experiment
From Oregon to Big Sur, potentially millions of trees have been killed by Sudden Oak Death, or SOD. In 2006 and 2007, researchers from UC Davis set up a large-scale study in the coastal forests near Big Sur to examine the spread of the disease and its impact on forest dynamics. The area was one of the first to be affected by SOD. Members of the Rizzo Lab at UC Davis had established 280 plots across the region, carefully counting and measuring each tree and checking for SOD infection. Then, in June 2008, the Basin Complex Fire ripped through Big Sur, burning over 95,000 hectares of forest. By the time the fire was contained, over a month after it began, one third of the team’s plots were crisp and blackened.
Read more: KQED QUEST Community Science Blog
Read more: KQED QUEST Community Science Blog
Forget trees, Welsh uplands needed for growing food
BRITAIN’S hill and upland areas could be the answer to tackling the growing threat of food shortages, according to a Mid Wales beef and sheep farmer.
John Pugh is calling on the Assembly Government to reconsider its ambitious tree planting strategy, which aims to create 100,000ha of new woodlands over the next 20 years, mainly on marginal hill land.
And he said any plantations cleared to combat Sudden Oak Death should be returned to farmland rather than replanted.
John Pugh is calling on the Assembly Government to reconsider its ambitious tree planting strategy, which aims to create 100,000ha of new woodlands over the next 20 years, mainly on marginal hill land.
And he said any plantations cleared to combat Sudden Oak Death should be returned to farmland rather than replanted.
More news articles from the Capital Press
Nurseries get proactive in researching issues August 19, 2010
Researchers have begun taking the offense against the many issues the nursery industry faces.
Marc Teffeau, director of research and regulatory affairs for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, said his association has transformed research to look toward the future, anticipating issues and not always playing a defensive game.
South Carolina abandons nursery rules April 22, 2010
South Carolina has abandoned regulations that hindered nursery stock shipments from the West Coast, capitulating to demands from California and Oregon nursery groups.
On April 19, South Carolina regulators withdrew regulations aimed at preventing the spread of Phytophthora ramorum, or sudden oak death, into the state, according to court documents.
The regulations, enacted in 2009, imposed additional inspection and notification requirements on nursery shipments from areas afflicted by the fungal pathogen.
SOD host notification required
The USDA as of March 1 will require nurseries in certain counties of Oregon, Washington and California to provide advance notice to receiving states when shipping some sudden oak death host material.
Read the rest of the article in the Capitol Press
Read the rest of the article in the Capitol Press
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