2008 Woodie Awards
Trees Can Get Sick Too
Jeremy Endsley
Issue date: 8/22/07 Section: Letters to the Editor
- Page 1 of 1
Trees can get sick too, and they've been slowly dying as a new plague has spread over the State. It's a microorganism, specifically a water-mold, called Sudden Oak Death. It spreads when its spores are splashed from nearby infected plants. It also spreads when people on outdoor trips don't clean their gear when they go to new places. There are no full-body condoms to wear for this one, though wearing disposable bags over your boots might help.
It was discovered in a Santa Cruz nursery in 1995 and has spread up and down the coast. It causes wilting, huge canker sores and death in Tan Oaks and other species. Rhododendrons, California Bay Laurels, are carriers of the disease because they can spread it but don't get sick. Recently a Humboldt County nursery was quarantined and treated for the disease.
College students are at high risk of spreading the disease if they hike or camp during the summer. Doing any kind of water sport also increases their risk because the disease is carried by water. The best thing for students to do is clean all their equipment thoroughly before leaving school and again before they come back. If they're taking trips to multiple nature areas they should do this before they go to each new place.
For more information visit:
http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/index.html
It was discovered in a Santa Cruz nursery in 1995 and has spread up and down the coast. It causes wilting, huge canker sores and death in Tan Oaks and other species. Rhododendrons, California Bay Laurels, are carriers of the disease because they can spread it but don't get sick. Recently a Humboldt County nursery was quarantined and treated for the disease.
College students are at high risk of spreading the disease if they hike or camp during the summer. Doing any kind of water sport also increases their risk because the disease is carried by water. The best thing for students to do is clean all their equipment thoroughly before leaving school and again before they come back. If they're taking trips to multiple nature areas they should do this before they go to each new place.
For more information visit:
http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/index.html
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