County gets federal cash to combat SOD disease

Curry County will receive $2,692,000 in federal stimulus funds to help stem the spread of Sudden Oak Death, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Thursday.

“This is a wonderful thing,” Alan Vandiver, district ranger for the Forest Service’s Gold Beach Ranger Station, said Friday. “Here’s our opportunity to go after it. The State Division of Forestry will be administering that money. They have a number of partnerships where they are going to put that money to good use.”

The Oregon funds also include $1.4 million for wildlife fire management in Curry, Coos, Jackson and Josephine counties. That project is to enhance and restore meadow habitats across the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

Sudden Oak Death (SOD), which primarily affects tan oak trees in Oregon, was first spotted in a small area near Brookings in 2001 during an aerial survey by the Forestry Department. It has continued to spread with areas as far north as near Pistol River.

Vandiver said Friday the SOD money will go to the state, which will determine what projects and treatments will be covered.

“I was talking to the folks in Portland,” Vandiver said. “What will happen with this money, the state will develop a grant to submit to the Forest Service. The grant will be approved by the secretary and the money gets moved over to the Department of Forestry.”

Vandiver said the state needs to deal with SOD as quickly as it can.

“It’s the right thing to do given the potential effects of this disease,” he said.

“Oregon’s forests are among the most important natural resources we have,” Wyden said, as he and Merkley announced the funding.

“We have an enormous backlog of forests that need to be restored and this funding will employ hardworking Oregonians to do it. By funding projects that reduce wildfire risk, stop diseases from spreading and reduce populations of harmful insects, we will bring jobs back to the forest and protect our natural treasures at the same time,” Wyden said.

“These funds will create jobs for local residents at a time when they need them most, helping keep our forests healthy from disease and pests and protecting surrounding communities from the threat of wildfire,” said Merkley. “Creating jobs through sustainable forest practices is exactly the kind of win-win for the short-term and long-term that will make a real difference in the lives of Oregonians.”

Last week, the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest managers announced the closure of the popular Redwood Nature Trail on the Chetco River to prevent the spread of SOD.

A tan oak tree located along the trail – about eight miles up North Bank Chetco River Road near Loeb State park – has tested positively for the water mold Phytophthora ramorum, the cause of the plant disease.

“To reduce the risk of spreading the Sudden Oak Death pathogen associated with Sudden Oak Death, the Forest Service has immediately closed the Redwood Nature Trail and will be conducting more extensive surveys in the area to monitor if additional vegetation may be infected,” said Stephen Boyer, Pacific Zone silviculturist with the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

The trail will remain closed until survey work indicates that the risk of spreading the pathogen to new areas is minimal.

Curry County Commissioner Georgia Nowlin, a board member of the Association of O&C Counties, learned of the federal money on Thursday as she was leaving a meeting of the association.

Alan Kanaskie, Forest Pathologist with the Oregon Department of Forestry, spoke to the association about the spread of SOD, which is currently confined to Curry County in Oregon. SOD has spread through 14 counties of California, which has given up on eradicating the tree disease.

“What is at stake is the very economy of Oregon, because of our timber and nurseries,” she said.

If SOD continues up to the Willamette Valley, it could prevent or dramatically slow the export of Oregon products.

“I’m really happy, but I’m hoping this money doesn’t come with strings,” Nowlin said.

She said Oregon earlier got more than $800,000 pledged from the federal government to treat SOD, but it required matching funds from the state.

“We were only able to match $100,000 to $200,000 of it,” she said.

Vandiver said he checked with state officials and determined there was no match needed for the stimulus funds.

Commissioner Bill Waddle said the money is needed to slow the spread of SOD.

“This is going to put some of our local citizens to work,” Waddle said. “They can hire some local people.”

Commissioner George Rhodes is also happy to see the funds.

“It’s about time we got it,” Rhodes said. “It’s not enough. We need to address the issue.”

He noted that the state needs to keep SOD from spreading.

Rhodes said the Association of Oregon Counties is scheduling a session on SOD at its meeting this fall.

Kanaskie, in a May meeting in Curry County, had hopes that the federal stimulus money would be coming.

“We’re told we’ll get $2.7 million, but we haven’t got it yet,” Kanaskie said at that meeting. “If we can reduce the host species in the north part of the quarantine area, we can slow the spreading.”

When the stimulus money is approved, Kanaskie said each $1 million would be enough for 22 full-time jobs to remove host plants.

Kanaskie said that when the money is available, he would hire a point man to coordinate the job.

“One of the reasons if you get stimulus money is if you are in a high priority county. Curry County was one of those,” Kanaskie said.

He said the best way to contain the spread is to take host plants out in a three-mile wide path at the edge of the quarantine area.

Since 2001, when Sudden Oak Death was first found in the Brookings area, about $4 million has been used to slow the spread of the tree disease, including $1.35 million from the state.

“State money has gone away,” Kanaskie said. “We’re depending very much on Forest Service funds and BLM.”

Kanaskie said landowners who suspect they may have Sudden Oak Death on their property should contact Stacy K. Savona, SOD Forester in Brookings

Phytophthora Ramorum, a previously unknown and recently introduced nonnative pathogen, is the cause of Sudden Oak Death and Ramorum leaf and twig blight. It has killed hundreds of thousands of oak and tan oak trees in 14 coastal counties in California and hundreds of tan oak trees in Curry county.

Other trees besides tan oak that are killed by the disease include black oaks, liveoaks, and possibly madrones, but not white oaks. The disease also affects some plants such as rhododendron, and it causes a leaf blight on the Oregon myrtlewood.