The disease known as “sudden oak death” has hit trees near the Coastside particularly hard, reports Julia Scott in the San Mateo Daily News.
For reasons nobody quite understands, the disease known as sudden oak death has colonized the forests surrounding Crystal Springs Reservoir with greater brutality than other areas of the county that also contain trees susceptible to the disease, such as Woodside, Portola Valley, or the county parks in the hills above Pescadero. Biologists have detected only a handful of affected trees in those areas, whereas hundreds of trees are visibly affected throughout the Crystal Springs watershed - and absent a cure, the number continues to increase.
Experts have noticed the problem gaining momentum in San Mateo County this year in particular, Moore said. The results are there for all to see.
“When you’re in there on the trail and you see a dead tree, that’s one thing. But if you’re on Highway 280 and you’re looking at the watershed, you see pockets, patches of dead trees. It’s summer - it’s not like they’re supposed to be dropping their leaves,” he said.
