Survey shows rapid spread of Sudden Oak Death disease
KCBX reports:
A disease that kills oak trees along the California coast is spreading quickly and working its way south from Northern California, according to the most recent surveys done by the UC Berkeley SOD Blitz teams.
The details, just made public on Sunday, show Sudden Oak Death (SOD) is — for the first time — infecting areas of San Luis Obispo County.
Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen behind the disease, has killed hundreds of thousands of native oak and tanoak trees in California over the last couple of decades.
The 2016 survey shows an infected tree on the Cal Poly campus, in San Luis Obispo’s Irish Hills, and several groupings in rural areas just east of Cambria, and west of both Paso Robles and Atascadero.
Click here for Google Earth mapping of the 2016 surveys.
Read and listen to the full report at KCBX
