What is Sudden Oak Death?

Sudden Oak Death has been classified as an invasive species. These organisms are of great concern because history (by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Survey - APHIS) has shown that an introduced species has the potential to spread easily with devastating effects. Introduced species often have no natural enemies and have potential hosts with no ecologically adapted defenses.

There are numerous examples of introduced tree pathogens and insects that cause devastating problems including chestnut blight, dutch elm disease, gypsy moth caterpillars, white pine blister rust, hemlock woolly adelgid, and fusiform rust.

Given the severity of the effects that invasive species can cause it is justified to give the Sudden Oak Death situation very serious attention.