"Despite all of this wonderful work, we still don't have all of the answers we need to effectively control and manage Sudden Oak Death in our forests and yards." When I read this ending to Janice's blog on Monday it reminded me of all the work that still needs to be done, but more importantly all the work that has been done.
Someone sent me a link to a YouTube video recently and watching it felt like I had discovered an artifact in a time machine. The video, simply titled "Sudden Oak Death" , is a UC Television production that I believe was filmed in 2001. If you have time, listening to the Quest program juxtaposed to watching (even a small part of) this video makes you realize how much has been discovered in the last 8 years.
Photo courtesy of MauroTaborelli
Researchers, many of whom will be a the upcoming Fourth Sudden Oak Death Science Symposium, have been working extremely hard to understand the biology and management of Phytophthora ramorum. The tag-line for the Quest show likened Sudden Oak Death to the Swine Flu, another infective agent getting a lot of attention these days. P. ramorum is infecting (and killing) a large number of trees, but the life, and therefore biology, of oaks is measured in years, if not decades. The study of P. ramorum is a relatively slow and, I imagine, sometimes frustrating process. But on this early morning, looking back, I wanted to say thanks to all those that work so tirelessly to give us answers.
Warning: The following blog post contains shameless self- and cross-promotions!
Early this morning, my husband gingerly worked his way down the stairs to grab his bike for work, leaving me in the rare state of having two sleeping children and quiet in the early dawn. I heard the quiet murmurs of the garage radio click on below me, and then a bounding of steps and a flinging of doors as he leapt back upstairs and switched on the radio in the bedroom. Soon, both kids were up, too. Such is the effect that hearing Matteo Garbelotto's voice broadcast on the airwaves will have on our household.
Being true NPR-philes, we have all of our radios tuned to local station KQED. Their environmental program QUEST, for the second time now, has highlighted Sudden Oak Death and the researchers who are working to understand and control it. Two years ago, they brought a film crew out to Sonoma County to do a video story on the impacts of the disease; this morning they aired a radio story on recent management efforts in Marin and the Peninsula. You can hear the full story here: www.kqed.org/quest/radio/sudden-oak-death.
What I loved about today's radio story was the focus on the tough work that researchers and land managers are doing to deal with Sudden Oak Death in our yards and forests. The COMTF newsletter recently highlighted the same story from the MidPeninsula Regional Open Space District project on genetic resistance in tanoaks (see photo below).
Despite all of this wonderful work, we still don't have all of the answers we need to effectively control and manage Sudden Oak Death in our forests and yards. With continued funding - and your support - researchers can continue to work toward more answers. And public radio can continue to report on their progress.
