Sudden Oak Death, Tree Pathogen, Rapidly Killing Northern California Forests

Researchers at UC Berkeley recently completed a survey of the health of Northern California's forests and the results aren't pretty. A microbial disease called Sudden Oak Death is sweeping through the region at a blinding rate, increasing in prevalence nearly tenfold over last year. The San Francisco Chronicle notes a study conducted by the U.S. Forestry Service which documented 375,700 news cases of dead oak trees spanning 54,400 acres of California this year, up from 38,000 cases over 8,000 acres a year ago. This exponential growth in cases over last year is made even more disturbing by the previous year's study, which found a 200-300% increase in Sudden Oak Death between 2010 and 2011...more