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.

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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.

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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

Sudden oak death now threatens more of Britain's trees

After destroying millions of oaks in California, the infection spread to Britain – then suddenly jumped species

In woodlands around the UK, just as here in Afan Valley, south Wales, the race is on to fell thousands of trees in a desperate effort to contain a new disease which poses a threat to British forests on a scale not seen since Dutch elm disease wiped out millions of trees, changing the landscape of the country for ever.

Read the article here: The Guardian

Comprehensive report on SOD

Now available.

Synthesizing more than 10 years of cooperative research on the exotic invasive, quarantine sudden oak death pathogen, the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) recently published "Sudden Oak Death and Phytophthora ramorum: A Summary of the Literature." This 181-page comprehensive report covers a wide range of topics, including a history of sudden oak death, identification and distribution of the disease, epidemiology and modeling, management and control, and economic and environmental impacts.

read the rest of the press release.

Information on how to download or order a free copy of the report, "Sudden Oak Death and Phytophthora ramorum: A Summary of the Literature" can be found at: http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr234/.

Smartphone app for reporting SOD

And other invasive species too:

Apps are allowing for coordinated monitoring, efficient data collection, and increased communication and cooperation between scientists and the agriculture industry.

Read more: Western Farm Press

Tree deaths affect disease-carrying ticks: Scientists study whether there is a link between tree deaths and Lyme disease

Over the past 15 years, an invasive plant disease has left a patchwork of dead and dying trees in California's majestic coastal forests. But the loss of trees is changing more than just panoramic views: The number of ticks that can carry a disease that causes painful joint swelling, fatigue and even neurological damage is growing - a result of the gaps created in the forest when trees die, a recent study found.

To determine how the loss of trees affects ticks, their hosts and the Lyme disease they might carry, researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York have embarked on a multi-year study of animal populations in a North San Francisco Bay forest infected with Sudden Oak Death.

read more in the San Jose Mercury-News

Oregon oak disease fight faces federal aid loss

BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) — In 2001, U.S. Forest Service plant pathologist Ellen Goheen took to the air to see if sudden oak death was in Oregon.

The disease, which in two years can kill an otherwise healthy oak tree, earlier that year was identified as the causal agent killing huge swaths of oak trees in northern California.

The leading edge of the infestation was more than 100 miles from the Oregon-California border, but Goheen thought it possible that sudden oak death had entered Curry County.

Moments after starting her aerial survey, Goheen's suspicions were realized.

"The 'oh, shoot' factor was pretty high," she said.

Her discovery set off what has become a decade-long, $10 million battle with the fungal disease that threatens much of the West's timber and nursery industries.

http://www.necn.com/12/07/10/Oregon-oak-disease-fight-faces-federal-a/landing_health.html?&blockID=3&apID=5150b7d10ce24702947c0dc2d42fdbb2