Sudden oak death found in SR

Sudden oak death, the disease that has killed 1 million trees in California coastal counties since 1995, has claimed its first Santa Rosa victim.

City officials said tests on a dying live oak in Doyle Park found it to be infected, a discovery that has since led to detection of the pathogen in Howarth Park as well.

But indications are the disease hasn't spread too far.

"There's no need to panic," Santa Rosa Park Superintendent Lisa Grant said. "We're not that far down the road. We don't want people to be alarmed, just aware."

Tests at other parks, including Hidden Valley and Galvin, have turned up negative.

However, she said, there is evidence the disease is in Spring Lake, a county park, and Annadel, a state park on the eastern edge of the city.

An inventory of how many trees are infected in the 152-acre Howarth Park and 22-acre Doyle Park won't begin for at least a month. Treatment, either by application of a protective fungicide or cutting down trees too far gone, won't begin until fall, Grant said.

Grant said the city has been testing for sudden oak death since it first showed up in Marin County in 1995. The positive test in Doyle Park last year was the first confirmation of the disease in Santa Rosa.

So far, it appears to be limited to the parks. Officials tracking the spread of the disease say there have been no reports of sudden oak death on private property in Santa Rosa.

Since 1995, the disease has been blamed for the deaths of 1 million trees and has infected 1 million more along the coastal range that reaches from Monterey to Humboldt counties.

Among the trees considered most susceptible to sudden oak death pathogens are live oaks, black oaks, Shreve oaks and tan oaks.

While sudden oak death has gained a foothold in the west county, where thousands of trees susceptible to the disease are either dying or in danger, Grant said Santa Rosa, with its urban setting, flatter terrain and drier climate isn't as welcoming.

Grant said that's largely because trees aren't jammed as tightly together, partly because of the homes and streets that separate them.

She also said bay trees -- the primary host to the pathogen, which can be spread via wind and rain -- generally aren't located close enough to the live oaks that populate Santa Rosa to have a widespread impact within the city.

"We probably won't see the huge devastation we're seeing in the west county because of our modified environment," Grant said.

Lisa Bell, Sonoma County's sudden oak death coordinator, said the west county is a breeding ground for the pathogen because of its coastal proximity, its hilly topography and its huge numbers of tan oaks.

"The pathogen likes the fog belt, areas where it's moist and the temperatures are mild," she said.

"Trees out there are dying in mass amounts right now," she said. "One of our major concerns is fire danger."

Bell said most of the trees now dying were perfectly healthy until the past two years when moisture from fog and rain dripped off the pathogen-laden leaves of bay trees onto the now infected trees.

Grant said one sign that a bay tree carries the pathogen is when its leaves, or at least the edges of the leaves, turn brown.

She said her department is developing a plan of attack that will include spraying susceptible trees located near infected ones with a protective fungicide while cutting down already infected trees.

It also will involve erecting signs near infected areas urging mountain bikers to brush mud off their tires and horseback riders and dog walkers to clean the hooves and paws of their animals as they leave to protect against the pathogen's spread.

The battle, Grant said, won't be over anytime soon.

"The pathogen probably doesn't ever go away," she said. "Its spores live in a vegetative state for a long time."

You can reach Staff Writer Mike McCoy at 521-5276 or mike.mccoy@pressdemocrat.com.;

SUDDEN OAK DEATH

Since 1995, the disease has been blamed for the deaths of 1 million trees and has infected 1 million more along the coastal range that reaches from Monterey to Humboldt counties.

A map of confirmed locations / B3