Border ban on Curry Douglas fir continues

California residents who want to buy or cut a Douglas Christmas tree in Curry County and take it home will have to present border inspection officials with one of two things: A sticker showing their purchased tree has passed federal or state inspection and is free of the Sudden Oak Death pathogen; or a U.S. Forest Service permit for a privately cut tree.

Otherwise, all Douglas firs must be left on the Oregon side of the border.

As of late Tuesday, most Curry County businesses selling Douglas fir Christmas trees were unable to provide the necessary sticker to their California customers.

“SOD is a complex issue, I know. Mainly because there are three different agencies involved,” said Steve Lyle, public affairs officer for the California Department of  Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

Those agencies are the CDFA, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Last week, several tree sellers in Brookings and their California customers were surprised by the CDFA’s announcement that Douglas fir trees from parts of Curry County were not allowed across the border. Several Fred Meyer customers returned their trees for refunds, store officials said.

The issue was compounded by the fact that several certified tree sellers in Curry County import their Douglas firs from outside the area, and that, they argued, makes the trees safe to cross the border.

That may be true for the thousands upon thousands of Oregon Douglas firs from outside Curry County being shipped to California in trucks, but not for those trees that are delivered to Curry County businesses.

“Basically, any Douglas fir tree that hits the ground in Curry County will not be allowed into California without proof that it doesn’t have Sudden Oak Death,” Lyle said.

The state’s ban on Curry County Douglas firs, issued to California media on Nov. 24, was made to prevent the spread of Sudden Oak Death, a tree disease that has been located in about 150 acres of wilderness north east of Brookings and in the city’s Azalea Park. Curry County  is the only infected area in Oregon so far.

 Officials believe the disease originated from California.

People who get a U.S. Forest Service permit to cut their own Christmas tree in Curry County must cut the tree in wilderness areas deemed free of SOD by the Forest Service. The permit must be attached to the cut tree should it be transported into California, Lyle said.

All other types of Christmas trees – from Curry County or elsewhere in Oregon – are being allowed into California.

Business owners and customers learned of the ban on Douglas firs on Friday after workers at the California’s agriculture inspection station on Highway 101, about five miles south of Brookings, stopped letting Douglas firs pass. On Monday, Lyle said only Douglas fir trees accompanied by the aforementioned proof were being allowed to enter California. And it will be up to the retailers and the customers to show that proof, he said.

On Tuesday, Christmas tree seller Alan Smith, owner of Brookside Nursery in Brookings, was in constant contact with various government officials, trying to get their approval to let the Douglas firs he sells to cross into California. Smith said he gets all his Douglas firs shipped from places outside of Curry County.

Smith first learned of the situation on Friday from one of his customers, a Smith River resident who was stopped at the border. She was allowed to enter the state with her tree because if was a Noble fir. That same day, Smith received several calls from California customers who had learned about the restrictions on Douglas fir from the newspaper.

On Friday, at least four California residents returned their Douglas fir trees to Fred Meyer after being stopped at the border, said Store Manager Matt Galli.

The store has since posted signs next to their Christmas trees, warning customers from California that, due to state restrictions, they can not take Christmas trees across the border. The store does not have the means to give customers the proof they need to get a Douglas tree into California, Galli said.

The store received its only shipment of about 450 trees just before Thanksgiving, Galli said. He didn’t think the California ban on Douglas trees would impact sales much.

“A lot of California residents shop here, but I don’t think very many buy their Christmas trees from us,” he said.

Lyle said the ban on Curry County Douglas firs is likely to continue through Christmas 2010 because Sudden Oak Death has so far been difficult to eradicate.

While rare in Oregon — Curry County being the only location — the fungus (Phytophthora ramorum) has done extensive damage to forests from Monterey to Humboldt counties, Lyle said. It has not been detected in Del Norte County.

“Ultimately Douglas fir trees are on the host list,” said California Oak Mortality Task Force Outreach Coordinator Janice Alexander. “They can have the pathogen without being infected by it.”

According to Alexander, Sudden Oak Death spreads when infected material comes into contact with a healthy forest.

“It’s mainly a water-borne pathogen,” Alexander said. “The spores don’t survive in the air for very long. They are kind of delicate.”

While the disease only kills four species of oak trees, and the tan oak, it negatively affects hundreds of other  plants, Alexander said.

The fungus can also cause Ramorum blight, which affects the leaves and twigs of many other plants found in both forests and nurseries.