Scientists Study Whether Fungus Now in Foothills

Scientists are trying to determine whether the fungus-like organism that causes sudden oak death in trees has reached the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

Yellowish maple leaves were found in the foothills last fall, but scientists have not matched the DNA taken from the diseased leaves to the pathogen that causes sudden oak death, Phytophthora ramorum, said Matteo Garbelotto, a forest pathologist with the University of California, Berkeley.

“The symptom was similar to what we’ve seen here on the coast, but they’re so generic that it could be anything,” he said. “There’s hundreds of things that could cause a yellow spot.”

Hundreds more samples need to be collected and tested before a match can be confirmed, and that can’t happen until leaves start growing back on the trees, Garbelotto said.

If there is a match, it would be the first one found outside the California and Oregon coastal region.

If the pathogen is found in the Sierra Nevada foothills, it’s still unclear if conditions would be right for it to develop into the disease, said Katie Facino, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.