--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?
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.