WSU Sudden Oak Death Program

Monitoring

Western Washington is a “high risk” area for diseases caused by P. ramorum and other Phytophthora species because of favorable environmental conditions and the abundance of susceptible host plants in wildland and urban areas. At present, P. ramorum has only been detected in or near nurseries in western Washington.

The spread of P. ramorum into the landscape will trigger a series of quarantines that will have a significant economic impact on the horticulture and forest products industry. Stream monitoring programs have been shown to be an effective approach to detect the spread of P. ramorum and focus eradication efforts to high risk areas, thus reducing the threat this pathogen poses to our landscape and forest ecosystems.

SOD monitoring in Washington

SOD monitoring elsewhere

SOD National Detection Survey (US Forest Service)

SOD monitoring in California (COMTF site)

P. ramorum surveys in the UK (Forestry Commission)

Australia's "Fishing for Phytophthora" program

More information:

Community-based stream monitoring for invasive Phytophthoras in western Washington. Marianne Elliott, Gary Chastagner, Katie Coats, Annie DeBauw, and Kathy Riley. Poster, March 2011.

P. ramorum detection and monitoring in western Washington waterways, 2010. Daniel Omdal and Amy Ramsey-Kroll, WA DNR. Poster, Dec. 2010.

The BOB method for detecting P. ramorum in water

 

Contact: Gary Chastagner, 253-445-4528 | WSU Puyallup Research & Extension Center, 2606 West Pioneer, Puyallup, WA, 98371-4998 USA
Last updated March 13, 2012