Redwood Reader

The California Oak Mortality Task Force (listserve: comtf@nature.berkeley.edu, web: www.suddenoak death.org) reported new findings of Sudden Oak Death in the Redway-Garberville area.(See below.) Calls for landowner permissions and possibly volunteers experienced in field surveys are being sought. In addition, articles about unraveling the phytophatora genome and restricitons on moving potentially infected material are posted in this months COMTF newsletter. There is a request for proposals for a round of research funding later this spring. We are glad to see more information for landowners as much of the recent material has dealt with new discoveries of infected species in nurseries both regionally and by species.
Phyotphthora is the genus of potato, soy and chestnut blights, among others. Chestnut blight type devastation will unravel California landscapes (11 million acres of oaks) but an amazing amount has been done since the discovery in 2000. Researchers are attacking this problem from many angles. There is a link to:

Stopping the Rot. Henry Nicholls. Public Library of Science (a public access
journal) Vol. 2 Issue 7:0891-0895. July 2004. This article discusses
Phytophthora ramorum as well as Phytophthoras in general. The article includes
information on the origins of Phytophthoras, genetic testing, financial impacts,
environmental impacts, reproduction and recombination, and epidemiology. To view
the article in its entirety, go to:
<http://www.plosbiology.org/archive/1545-7885/2/7/pdf/10.1371_journal.pbio.0020213-L.pdf>.

What we fail to see so far is cooperation between chestnut researchers and SOD researchers. Chestnut had them fooled for a long time butbreeding programs are finally showing signs of success. IMHO, manipulation of genetic on/off switches will be a real path to providing defense to new predatory species, such as the gene that causes older bark to furrow, allowing access for spores in the spring. If we can learn to turn this gene off-voila! Meanwhile we hope to have remediation before we have massive die offs and landscape unraveling like we have never seen.

The updated table "Phytophthora ramorum Regulations for Forest Products"
<http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/pdf/Enforcement%20Regulation%20grid%20Feb%2005v4.pdf>
is now available and has been posted to the COMTF website. The matrix summarizes
state and federal P. ramorum regulations pertaining to the movement of eight
different categories of regulated forest articles.

The new findings in Redway/Garberville are reported in this article.

The Humboldt County Department of Agriculture, UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE),
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), and the USDA Forest
Service are conducting an ongoing survey and assessment of P. ramorum-infested
areas near Redway and Garberville in southern Humboldt County in preparation for
potential new suppression efforts. In the summer of 2004, USDA Forest Service
aerial surveys identified seven patches of tanoak mortality near Redway and
Garberville that were subsequently confirmed by ground crews to be P.
ramorum-positive. The crews found these patches primarily in riparian forested
settings, with steep, challenging topography (unlike the residential setting
confirmations found in Redway in February 2004 where suppression efforts were
conducted).
These findings triggered the development of a survey designed
to: delimit the extent of the newly discovered infestations; provide a strategic
sampling that will assist in the identification of other unknown local
infestations in forested and riparian areas; and continue to monitor the
development of the disease in residential Redway and Garberville, including
sites on which suppression activity took place in 2004. The Humboldt County
Department of Agriculture has begun surveying in residential areas where
permission has been given by property owners to survey for the pathogen, and
they continue to seek permission from remaining landowners in the area. In
March, Humboldt County UCCE personnel will likely take over surveying efforts in
wildland settings, and may be seeking volunteer help from cooperators
experienced in P. ramorum-identification.
In addition, CDF and UCCE are
developing drafts for potential suppression activities in known infested areas,
as well as any new infestations that the surveys may reveal. Possible
suppression scenarios range from pruning of selected host branches on
residential properties where landowners are unwilling to have trees removed, to
felling and removal of selected hosts with or without additional thinning and
pruning. Soil, plant parts, and new host sprouts from treatment sites will be
monitored for at least two years after treatment.
CDF, the Humboldt County
Agriculture Department, and UCCE also continue to monitor soil and leaves from
the lower Redway sites treated in February 2004. UCCE staff has installed seven
new watercourse monitoring sites, in addition to the five already in place
around Redway and Garberville. Three more watercourse monitoring sites are being
established this month. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Arcata Field Office
staff has also installed two watercourse monitoring sites on the Mattole River
and its tributaries in southwestern Humboldt County in cooperation with UCCE.
These new monitoring sites in southern Humboldt County complement an already
existing network of sites in Mendocino, northern Humboldt, and Del Norte
Counties, which are regularly monitored by UC Davis and UCCE investigators. The
remainder of Humboldt County, as well as Del Norte and northern Mendocino
Counties, will continue to be surveyed in heavily visited municipal, county,
state, and national parks, as well as in Six Rivers National Forest.
For
more information on Humboldt County area efforts, or to volunteer for survey
work, contact Yana Valachovic, UCCE Humboldt/Del Norte, at: yvala@ucdavis.edu
<http://webmail.west.cox.net/agent/MobNewMsg?to=yvala@ucdavis.edu> or
Chris Lee, UCCE Humboldt/Del Norte, at: cale@ucdavis.edu
<http://webmail.west.cox.net/agent/MobNewMsg?to=cale@ucdavis.edu>."