Lessons learned from the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, sudden oak death management program
| Authors: | Phil Cannon, Susan J. Frankel, Pete Angwin |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Type: | General Technical Report |
| Station: | Pacific Southwest Research Station |
| Source: | Proceedings of the sudden oak death sixth science symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR-PSW-255. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 13-14. |
Abstract
Over the past 15 years, the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, State and Private Forestry (S&PF) has provided grants which have supported over 200 projects to address sudden oak death (SOD) in California. To date, over $10 million has been provided by US taxpayers, plus an additional $8 million of non-federal matching funds. These funds have provided the infrastructure for California’s SOD response: supporting laboratory diagnostics, monitoring, management, and education and outreach. Grantees have included CAL FIRE, five California universities, UC Cooperative Extension in four counties, a county agricultural department, two National Parks, two timber companies, the US Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management, three National Forests, four Native American Tribes, and a privately run forest pathology consulting company.
State and Private Forestry’s responsibility is to provide technical and financial assistance to improve management of forest pests and diseases, it is not mandated to support research (the mandate of USDA Forest Service Research and Development). Nevertheless, each year when proposals are submitted in response to the annual "Request for SOD Management Proposals," lessons learned from previous projects, including applied research on the SOD pathogen (Phytophthora ramorum), have been relied on for proposal selection since current knowledge is a key factor in the probability for success and relevance of a proposal.