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But seriously guys, bad jokes aside, this is really sad. Someone up there must have it in for Berkeley representatives of the oak family, what with the stadium/tree-sitter infestation business … and now this?! Yep, oak trees are getting the shaft again, but this time it’s not the result of a petty human squabble–though we’re pretty sure that if we traced it back far enough, the pathogen outbreak plaguing oaks in Tilden Regional Park is probably the fault of mankind, somehow. Yeesh.
The pathogen’s M. O. reads like crappy sci-fi, especially the part where the afflicted oak starts to “ooze sap that resembles human blood from large cankers,” and then the tree’s leaves suddenly turn “from green to brown, immediately preceding the tree’s death.” Excuse us while we go over here and grimace disgustedly for a while.
Anyway, the good news is that, unlike in Oregon, where they have adopted a “slash-and-burn method” to contain the rapidly-spreading problem, there’s nothing that anyone can really do here in California. Oh wait, that’s not good news at all. Well, at least researchers are on it, studying up on the enemy and attempting to figure out the best way to strike. The Clog sends four-leaf clovers and other flora-based luck to them.
Image Source: Steffe under Creative Commons
Pathogen Outbreak Plagues Tilden Oak Trees [Daily Cal]
Tags:East Bay Regional Parks, oak plague, Oaks, plague, Tilden Park, trees
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Dec 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm
It is indeed very sad. In the El Sobrante oak woodlands, where I live, SOD is spreading rapidly and the only certified method of protecting trees is expensive and requires yearly boosters. I took the free educational workshop at UC Berkeley and learned a great deal. It’s a brown algae related to the potato blight. Just one spore is all it takes to infect a plant. From what I’ve read recently, the approach Oregon is taking has not stopped the advance. I fear, it won’t be long before SOD is in the Sierra Foothills as well.
Our California landscape might be radically different in 20 years. Savor the oaks while they’re still here.
We need to find that “four-leaf” clover solution soon to this problem. A miracle is what we really need.