Funding to fight SOD in jeopardy

Federal, state and commercial foresters accept that sudden oak death is a fixture in the forests of Oregon's southernmost coastal county.

 

Their management strategy today involves keeping the disease from spreading outside a quarantine area that has grown from 9 square miles in 2001 to 162 square miles today.

 

The current management strategy involves removing all host plants within a 300-foot radius of an infected tree.

 

In Oregon, scientists typically find about 70 new infected sites each year — all within the quarantine area.

 

The cost — running about $2 million a year in recent years — is high, but, according to an Oregon State University study, better than the alternatives.

 

Find out more about the cost and the funding for fighting SOD here.