App advises users of sudden oak death risks

Want to know if the oak or tanoak trees on your property are at risk of infection by the sudden oak death pathogen? There's an app for that.

The risk depends on the proximity of infected bay trees, and a sudden oak death mobile app may be downloaded for free from an iPhone or Android online app stores.

A PowerPoint report on the 2013 Sudden Oak Death Blitz and a Google Earth map that pinpoints the infected trees identified in the blitzes from 2008 to 2013 are available here

Property owners who want advice on how to protect their trees from sudden oak death may attend a free public workshop presented by Matteo Garbelotto and Doug Schmidt of the UC Berkeley Forest Pathology Lab in Santa Rosa on Nov. 2.

The meeting will be from 10 a.m. to noon at the UC Cooperative Extension Office, 133 Aviation Blvd., Suite 109.

For information or to register for the workshop, contact Lisa Bell, the county's sudden oak death program coordinator, at lkbell@ucanr.edu.