Infected Oaks Found in Santa Clara County pg.2

The breakthrough find, made by a British scientist and researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, means the fungus has not only leaped across the Atlantic Ocean but is even more adaptable than previously thought. State legislators are seeking $10 million to fight the disease. Last week, the Senate natural resources and wildlife committee unanimously supported a bill seeking that amount by Sen. Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata. Assemblywoman Carole Migden and Patricia Wiggins will introduce a virtually identical bill today before the natural resources committee.

The latest infestations was found in three tan oak trees in the mountainous region of Santa Clara County, near Skyline Boulevard and Black Mountian Road. Researchers had long suspected the disease was in Santa Clara County, where the disease was first discovered in 1995.

Greg Van Wassenhove, the Santa Clara County agricultural commissioner, said the county planned education and outreach programs for residents, parks, arborist groups, tree trimmers and gardeners associations. “Right now, what we’ve seen is certainly manageable,” Van Wassenhove said, “but we are going to continue our surveys and respond to calls of diseased trees in a way that will keep the spread to a minimum.”

Palkovsky said numerous reports of the disease had come from Humboldt, Mendocino, Alameda, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, but extensive sampling has yet to find the pathogen in any of those locations.

Page: 1 2