OAK TREES ALL ALONG CALIFORNIA'S COAST. ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO CHANCE OF KILLING THE PATHOGEN... RESEARCHERS FROM U-C BERKELEY ARE WORKING TO SLOW IT DOWN. ACTION NEWS REPORTER KYLA LINVILLE HAS MORE. CHRISTOPHER, THIS PATHOGEN HAS INFECTED MILLIONS OF OAK TREES IN CALIFORNIA. LOCAL VOLUNTEERS IN THE CARMEL VALLEY ARE STEPPING UP TO HELP RESEARCHERS PRESERVE THESE REMAINING TREES. SUDDEN OAK DEATH HAS KILLED ROUGHLY TEN MILLION OAK AND TAN OAK TREES ALL ALONG CALIFORNIA'S COASTAL LINE. AND CURRENTLY IS COLONIZING THIRTY PERCENT OF THE OAK TREE POPULATION. Kerri Frangioso, UC Davis Staff Research Associate 0:0:57 "It's called Phytophthora Ramorum, and it's actually a water mold more closely related to brown algae in the ocean." 0:01:05 THE PATHOGEN GROWS ON BAY LAUREL LEAVES. THRIVING IN WARM, WET CLIMATES. THROUGH RAIN AND WIND.IT PRODUCES SPORES AND CAN SPREAD TO NEARBY OAKS. Matteo Garbelotto, UC Berkley 0:31:56 "They go inside the tree through the so-called cambium layer, which is a layer that's alive. It's a layer that's essential for the distribution of sugars into the root system. And it cuts it off completely." 0:32:07 MATTEO SAYS THIS CAN HAPPEN TO OAK TREES THAT ARE HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD.IN AS LITTLE AS TWO MONTHS. AND A TREE CAN APPEAR TO BE ALIVEWHEN IT MAY HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS. VOLUNTEERS GATHERED TO HELP IN A STATEWIDE SURVEY - WHERE RESEARCHERS LOOK FOR INFECTED AREAS. SATURDAY - THE SECOND SOD BLITZ OUT OF TWENTY-FIVE. Bobbie Wright, Volunteer 0:09:57 "We're doing a teeny tiny part we think of helping them get this information of maybe getting it under control." 0:20:03 ANDREW AND BOBBIE WRIGHT ARE JUST A FEW OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO ARE COLLECTING POSSIBLE SAMPLES. LOOKING FOR BAY LEAVES WITH BROWNED TIPS, YELLOW LEAF TISSUE, AND A BLACKENED LINE ALL SIGNS OF SUDDEN OAK DEATH. THE IDEA IS TO COLLECT INFECTED LEAVES AND MARK THE AREA OF THE TREE. ALL SAMPLES GATHERED WILL BE SENT TO UC BERKELEY, WHERE THEY WILL BE TESTED AND DETERMINED IF THEY ARE IN FACT SUDDEN OAK DEATH. AS FAR AS SAVING THE TREES. Kerri Frangioso, UC Davis Staff Research Associate 0:02:09 "There's measures you can take to prevent your tree from becoming infected. And there's measures that we're hoping to try to take to prevent the further spread of the pathogen. But irradiation is not realistic." 0:02:23 RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THE PATHOGEN ORIGINATED IN CHIN RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THE PATHOGEN ORIGINATED IN CHINA AND MADE ITS WAY TO THE U.S. THROUGH THE PLANT INDUSTRY. THE RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT ARE EXPECTED TO BE PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER.###