California Environment: How sudden oak death is transforming the state

Sacramento Bee ^ | August 15, 2004 | Richard A. Lovett

[farmfriend]

California Environment: How sudden oak death is transforming the state

By Richard A. Lovett -- Special To The Bee

Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 15, 2004

California's oaks are dying. Not all of them - and not the ones around Sacramento, but enough to raise questions about whether the Golden State's ecology is about to be wildly altered.

The problem is a blight called sudden oak death, which started cropping up in 1995 and has since killed tens of thousands of trees, mostly in the coastal mountains between Big Sur and northern Sonoma County. In places, the blight is so extensive that entire hillsides have been devastated, says David Rizzo, a plant pathologist at the University of California, Davis. The disease has also shown up in nursery trees shipped to at least 17 other states and in Europe, raising concerns that it may rapidly spread across the globe.

Sudden oak death is caused by a fungus called Phytophthora ramorum, which invades the trunks of tanoaks and coast live oaks. Tanoaks are common in redwood forests; coast live oaks are the dominant species in much of the rest of the Coast Ranges.

Sacramento's white oaks appear to be immune, possibly because Phytophthora is a "water mold" that needs moister climates - and the trees adapted to them - in order to spread.

[farmfriend]

This is a long editorial but worth the read.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[flashbunny]

this is obviously bush's fault.

[Pikachu_Dad]

if it's 'bushes fault', does that make it genocide? or bushacide?

[flashbunny]

If a bush is responsible for kiling trees, maybe that makes it fraticide?

Where's an arborist when you need one?

CSI: Arborist division- coming to CBS this fall.

[sergeantdave]

Well, the white oaks are not dying. So it must be the scrub oaks ( Quercus dumosa ), right? The most common oak in CA.

This smells like a stupid, useless, no-good piece of propaganda from the usual eco-fascist slobs controlling the land in CA.

When the hell are you people in CA going to confront the home-grown Marxists in your state? Do we have to do it for you?

The only publication I'm seeing to confront the Marxists is "Citizens for Private Property Rights, Inc." out of San Ysabel.

Get off your lazy butts and do something besides whining here on FR.

[mtntop3]

Thank you for the post. Had read earlier of this, but didn't have the up-dated details. The beauty of the oaks on California's golden hillsides has always been something to behold. Among the appreciators of that beauty, incidentally, was Ronald Reagan.

[E.G.C.]

BTT!!!!!!

[sasquatch]

do something besides whining here on FR.

Back at 'ya.

[bigfootbob]

You are barking up the wrong tree. The California Freepers are the one of the most active activists in our little family here at FR. Stick around or better yet, take a look at the archive and see how effective they are.

Sharing this marxist trash with the rest of us will help stop that tactic from spreading to your neck of the woods.

[farmfriend]

Thanks guys. I wouldn't even begin to know where to answer Dave. Makes you wonder sometimes.

[Old Professer]

The oaks close to the Reagan Library are threatened more by lawn sprinklers than a spreading blight.

[sergeantdave]

Apologies to all.

Had a real bad, frustrating day, and you just got in my line of fire.

I've relegated myself to a corner for some "quiet time," at least 20 feet away from the nearest keyboard.

Thanks for all the good work you do.

[7.62 x 51mm]

I'm a horticulturalist and own a high-end 20ac nursery & garden center in southcentral Penna. The so-called "sudden oak death" isn't a new phenomenom. It's been around a long time and affects over 100 varied ericaceous (acid-soil loving) plants.

Here's a website which explains it in greater detail:

http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/

Monrovia Nursery (CA) is *credited* with allowing it to spread unchecked through their distribution, nationwide.

There is no cure for Phytophthora ramorum.

Years ago, we used Subdue® Fungicide, but all it could do is knock it back; it didn't fix the problem. It's a virus pathogen and is impossible to cure.

The Peoples' Republik of Kalifornicate™ is finally paying attention to the problem, because it's affected their ag economy hard, and soon, many wholesale growers will be impacted. Many are already fleeing to Oregon and Washington states.

Similarly, wild dogwoods are being killed all over north America by anthracnose, and the flat-headed borer will be making the American white birch, extinct in 25 years.

It's Nature taking its course, and man can do nothing to stop it. perhaps the eco-terrorists and tree huggers are piling on; I don't know for sure. The research goes on.

[farmfriend]

Carry, see post 14.

[farmfriend]

I've relegated myself to a corner for some "quiet time," at least 20 feet away from the nearest keyboard.

I think we have all had those days. Thanks for the laugh!

[sasquatch]

Thanks for all the good work you do.



Back at 'ya.
:)

[7.62 x 51mm]

Thank you for your service, sergeantdave.

I did 3 tours in 'Nam, also.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1194262/posts?q=1&&page=1

See Post #38.

[fso301]

Clearly Bush is at fault.

[cmsgop]

Or Shrubs fault!

Oh Wait......