Treatments could slow spread of sudden oak death

UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) researchers are now testing new treatments that may help keep sudden oak death from spreading. First detected in California in 1995, the pathogen (Phytophthora ramorum) that causes this disease now infests 14 coastal counties and has killed more than a million native oaks and tanoaks. While experts acknowledge that there is little chance of eradicating sudden oak death where it is well established, there is still hope for stopping new infestations. “We have to learn to live with this disease,” says project leader Yana Valachovic, UCCE forest advisor for Humboldt and Del Norte counties. “Our goals are strategic containment and developing long-term management options for landowners.” Her collaborators include the USDA Forest Service, California State Parks and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In early 2006, the team began testing treatments in four forested areas totalling 140 acres in Humboldt County, the state’s northern limit of sudden oak death. The treatments include: