Counties seeking maximum dollars to battle SOD

Copies of the letter were sent to state legislators, the governor’s office, and to Oregon’s congressional delegation.

The letter was signed by southwestern Oregon commissioners who attended the Association of Oregon Counties annual convention in Portland.

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. Entire stands of potentially infected trees in Brookings Azalea Park were cut down last summer.

“I want to do as much as we can right now to eradicate it while it’s just in Curry County,” Nowlin said.

“The other commissioners realized how important it was to take care of it while it is in a relatively small area. The Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and the State Department of Forestry all are working together. We are able to contain it, but we need to eradicate it.”

She said it’s important that Oregon has enough money to match the federal funds allocated to SOD.

“It’s important we get the money where it can do the most good, put the money in now before it becomes a big problem. We are a net export state when it comes to wood products,” Nowlin said.

“Witness the Thanksgiving week California problem with Douglas fir Christmas trees,” she said.

She said the agriculture station on the California border suddenly prohibited the importation of the Douglas firs into the state, contending they could be carrying the SOD infection. The station started turning back California residents who bought the trees in Oregon.

“They didn’t tell anyone in Curry County or the Oregon Department of Agriculture,” Nowlin said.

Then Oregon agriculture officials were able to work out an agreement with the ag station.

“They gave sellers a certificate of quarantine compliance so they could take the Douglas firs across the border,” Nowlin said.

She said the Douglas fir has only an extremely minute chance of being affected by SOD.

“Last fiscal year, although $825,000 in federal SOD eradication moneys were available, the state was unable to provide match for but $159,200 of those funds,” the letter to the state forester says.

“The funding bottleneck at this time is at the state level. It was suggested that a letter be generated and signed by the commissioners from District 4 – Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine counties,” Nowlin said.

The letter to State Forester Marvin Brown says that the commissioners from the five counties recognize the potentially devastating economic and environmental effects of the widening spread of Sudden Oak Death to Southern Oregon and the rest of the state.

It asks the state for “the maximum amount of state match to federal dollars allocated to combat SOD, to best leverage the funds toward eradicating this pathogen while it is still manageable.”

“In Curry County, many private landowners were unable to have their dead and dying trees removed, contributing to the further spread of this disease and loss of good will,” the letter says. “This current fiscal year, we understand that a similar amount of federal dollars will be available for SOD, but again, state matching nonfederal funds are needed.”

The letter says that with the current control policy, the counties of Curry, Coos, Josephine and Douglas are at risk to be under quarantine within a 20 year period.

“For these same economically fragile O&C counties, the costs to both our forest and nursery industries under quarantine would be devastating,” the letter says.

“Oregon forest and nursery industries outside the quarantine areas will also be affected, with loss of consumer confidence and the potential boycott of Oregon products. Again, the economic costs would be enormous,” it continues.

“While we understand that the Oregon Department of Forestry has not escaped budget problems due to current economic conditions, allocating sufficient moneys to utilize Federal funding on SOD now will offer the best return on dollars spent, on many levels,” it says.

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.

SOD was first found in Oregon, in the Brookings area, in 2001, spreading up from California

The Oregon Forestry Department has found 41 new Sudden Oak Death infestations in Curry County this year, totaling 14 acres, said a September report by Forest Pathologist Alan Kanaskie.

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 (U.S. 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.”

Since 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.