Posted on 12/23/2004 12:18:41 PM PST by neverdem
Keith Parker
VICTIMS An oak forest in Marin County, Calif., where a plant pathogen has struck.
Top, Garbelotto Lab; bottom, Steve Tjosvold
SYMPTOMS Sudden oak death syndrome, spotted in 22 states, is signaled by sappy bark lesions, top, and by leaf rot.
More about Phytophthora ramorum
--this sounds like it could be worse than the chestnut blight of about sixty years ago or Dutch Elm disease which started forty or so years ago--
: )
If some Indian 'guru' or Haitian voodooist or Native American spiritist wanted to have a ceremony to protect these trees, there would be adulation and mutual worship of Mother Earth. If somebody like Jerry Falwell were to offer to come to the blighted area to pray to God for the trees, the media and Greens would attack him for being a publicity hound and being a simpleton for being superstitious.
I say, if the Oaks are being killed mysteriously, it's time to call in Miss Maple to solve the case...if she has a prayer....
This may be a key.
Isolate the gene/s responsible for the resistance and incorporate them into susceptible species.
In the mean time, get ready to cut and split a great deal of firewood.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Meanwhile, virtually NOTHING is done about plants imported from overseas.
You will note in the top photo: That is a riparian corridor with surrounding firs on the left and madrone on the right (the left side probably faces north or east). The dead trees are Lithocarpus densiflorus (tanoak). Oaks don't do well down in a wet shady gully like that, particularly shaded for part of the day by taller trees. They are as much victims of fire suppression and succession having allowed massive overstocking. That raised the average humidity, increased the duration of fog, reduced aeration, and increased accumulated and acidic litter (which would kill those trees eventually anyway when Armillaria gets into the cambium breaks caused by girdling roots due to the litter). Higher average humidity and shorter hours of sunlight greatly aid the disease in infecting a tree (tanoak is particularly susceptible because of its thinner bark than most oaks).
These species were selected over the last few thousand years having become accustomed to regular fire. Regular fires would have prevented the conifers from being so dense and shading that zone. Regular fires would have consumed the litter and provided those trees nutrition. There is no way that a stand now in that stocking density could survive a fire.
This disease started in Marin and Santa Cruz Counties, two of the most heavily regulated and overgrown counties in the whole state. I live in Santa Cruz County. Unlike my nieghbors, I have done the hard work of thinning my forests. In the seven years since Phytophthora ramorum was identified, I have lost ONE tree. The trees in that photo are more victims of how that land was managed than they are of the disease (which was likely imported from Europe with rhododendrons, btw).
Phytophthora ramorum produces spores. That means it is spread by birds. There is NO WAY any regulatory body is going to stop it now. All this action accomplishes is to kill a legitimate (although badly run) horticultural industry that we need for re-establishing native plants. The only way they could have prevented the disease was to take action on screening imports (particularly from Mexico), which is the one thing they don't do. So if that doesn't seem likely, ask yourself why.
--you obviously are an authority on this. As it is species-specific, can we then assume that it won't wipe the continent clean of oaks, such as almost happened with Dutch elms?
BTTT
Phytophthora ramorum is not species specific. You will note in the bottom of neverdem's photos are leaves from a California Bay Laurel tree. P. ramorum is not fatal to bay trees but they are a host. It is not fatal to redwood or fir either, which show little to no symptoms at all. It is fatal to virtually all species of oak trees and many shrubs but to varying degrees.
Now that it's here, all we can do now is to make certain the land is as healthy as it can be so that its individual constituents might survive. AFIK, there is no way to truly prevent the spread of this pathogen, although we might delay it for a few years. There is a treatment out there, but it is prohibitively expensive for all but the most valuable of ornamental trees. While the original predictions for how the scope of this infestation were very dark (some were saying we would lose 70% of all oaks in California), I have seen no indication that the reality is so threatening.
That doesn't mean I'm not royally pi$$ed that this pathogen was allowed into the country. If we hadn't learned our lesson after Dutch Elm disease we should this time simply because the next one could be worse. To allow foreign goods into the country without a rigorous means to protect native habitat from imported pathogens is to massively subsidize imported goods. The sellers and buyers don't pay for that risk; the landowner assumes the entire risk of the eventual consequences. Thus the risk of infestation is an economic externality of the importation transaction. When those consequences hit, the damned government agencies land upon those who are suffering the consequences (not that the horticultural industry is blameless, they did after import those rhododendrons). Thus, as far as I am concerned, the free ride that imports get is a result of corruption in government.
There are ways to manage such affairs without the heavy (and dirty) hand of regulatory government. Perhaps when I've raised a little capital (and when my patent for one such system finally gets a first office action) I'll get going on that.
Naah, there's no coincidence to that.
CA: USDA Acts to End Fight Over Plant Disease ( View from California on national problem )
They're still trying to do that with chesnuts and it's been how long since the blight eliminated them from forests? Unless they can get the new pest quarantined, you can kiss most of the oaks goodby. The effect of the loss of the mast crop isn't being considered but it will obviously affect everything from wild turkeys to squirrels and deer.
Missouri and Arkansas denuded of their Oaks.....this is serious....
BTTT!!!!!!!
"Just the facts, ma'am..."
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Although the chestnut tree was devastated, pockets of the tree survived. I bought some stock a few years ago and planted them on my property. It is one slow-growing tree, let me tell you. If it keeps growing the way it is, I'll be about 125 years old before I get my first chestnut to roast over that open fire.
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