Fourteen Curry County sites infested with Sudden Oak Death

GOLD BEACH – The Oregon Forestry Department has found 41 new Sudden Oak Death (SOD) infestations in Curry County this year, totaling 14 acres, said a report received by the Curry County Biomass Working Group at its meeting Thursday.

“The sites all are small with very few infected trees,” said the report written by Forest Pathologist Alan Kanaskie.

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.

The report said most of the new sites are within the core area where the tree disease has been found before, but several are in new places along the west and northwest edge of the core area following a somewhat predictable pattern of spread.

“A notable new site is in the Redwood trail area (US Forest Service) downstream of the 2006 site,” the report said. “Also notable is an infected tree picked up during a disease-free certification ground survey for South Coast Lumber. It is the farthest north site detected since 2007. Also of concern are the numerous infested sides on non-industrial property in the vicinity of Taylor, Duley, and Ram creeks.”

Stacy Savona, SOD Forester in Brookings, said at the meeting that the discovery of new SOD infestations is tapering down.

“I seems to be on the decline the last couple of years,” Savona said. “We think that’s because of the dry summer.”

She said it will probably be four to eight weeks before the $2.69 million in federal stimulus funds earmarked for SOD eradication reaches Curry County.

“The stimulus money is in Portland. That’s a lot closer than it has been,” Savona said.

Kanaskie’s report said that 85 dead trees had been mapped following aerial surveys in July. He said another 10 trees remain to be checked on the ground.

“The 41 new sites translate into 31 treatment areas, totaling approximately 230 acres,” Kanaskie’s report said. “We have completed hack and squirt treatment on many of the sites, but cutting and burning on private land is at a standstill because of funding problems.

“In addition, a few 2008 sites have not been fully treated for the same reason. Several of the new sites involve multiple landowners and small parcels of non-industrial private land,” he said.

“BLM continues to treat sites promptly on their land,” he said. “We are accumulating a great backlog of eradication work due to lack of funds.”

He said the annual Region 6 SOD grant for detection, monitoring, and eradication will be much smaller than its potential because of the state’s inability to substantially match the available federal dollars ($825,000) with nonfederal funds.

“Our tentatively approved request is for $159,200,” he said. “Much of this will support the SOD forester in Brookings for surveys, monitoring, and contract administration, with some left over for eradication work,” Kanaskie said.

“The federal Stimulus money apparently remains on track, but it has not been received. These funds will be used to remove host trees in and near infested sites and in pathways of likely spread,” he said.

“We are conducting our present SOD aerial and ground surveys under a joint grant with Oregon State University from Region 5. Stream baiting activities are supported by a separate USFS Forest Health Monitoring grant. In July we completed a small host removal project on South Coast Lumber using Region 5 funds,” Kanaskie said in his report.

“BLM has agreed to help support early detection and monitoring of Sudden Oak Death in Curry County by funding a portion of our field activities,” he said. “These include early detection surveys - ground, air, and stream baiting, delimitation surveys to determine the extent of infestations and establish treatment area boundaries, and post-treatment effectiveness monitoring. We are presently working up the agreement.”