Sudden Oak Life by Lee Klinger

Last week I visited an oak grove in Sonoma where restoration efforts using fire mimicry began in 2009. Several of the coast live oaks had symptoms of Sudden Oak Death, and many other oaks were in rather poor health. Underbrush was cleared, dead branches were pruned, mosses and lichens were removed from the trunks, minerals were applied to the soil along with compost and mulch, and the trunks sprayed with a mineral-rich lime spray.

After this work began several of the oaks have since been heavily impacted by some new home construction. Despite this, most of the impacted oaks have shown a noticeable improvement in their health over the two year period. The photos below show the results.

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Last week I visited several groves of coast live oaks in the Bay area (Los Altos Hills, Woodside, and Oakland) that were treated one year ago for the first time using fire mimicry protocols. This post shows the results so far.

While Sudden Oak Death was (and still is) present in the nearby oaks, all of the oaks in the photos were uninfected with Sudden Oak Death at the time of treatment and remain uninfected after one year. As you can see most of the oaks are showing improvement in canopy density, some more than others, although a few are showing no noticeable change. The no change condition is not a poor result as it indicates that the canopy health of the oaks has not deteriorated. Also, it is not unusual for oaks to take three to five years to respond fully to the fire mimicry treatments. Still, it is encouraging to see that most of the treated oaks are experienced a noticeable flush of new growth in just the first year.

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Fire mimicry practices, which involve clearing (shrubs and young trees, especially bays), pruning, trunk care, and amending soils with mineral and organic rich fertilizers, are continuing to have a positive effect on sick oaks here in California. Below are some repeat photography results for several coast live oaks in Carmel, Pebble Beach, Santa Barbara that have been treated with fire mimicry for three years. The main caveat is that the oaks in these pictures, while ill, are not severely diseased. The oaks that are severely diseased are not faring as well. Scroll down to see the results.

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Last April I reported on the progress being made in helping ‘grandfather oak‘, a very old and diseased coast live oak on King Mountain in Marin Open Space. I returned this past April along with a small contingent of volunteers to continue the efforts we started 3.5 years ago. We cleared the genista, poison oak, and small bays, fertilized with Azomite, oyster shell flour, and soft rock phosphate, and applied a lime spray to the trunk. Below is a photo of all the volunteers. They are (from left to right) Kathleen Cannon, John Furnas, Roger Diehnel, Greg Reza (Parks & Open Space Volunteer Coordinater), Dick Gale, Donna Shoemaker (project leader), and Carl Thoelicke.

Volunteers caring for Grandfather Oak

Our efforts for Grandfather Oak are not about treating any disease or pests. Indeed, the oak is probably well past being cured of sudden oak death. This is an attempt to give this oak a fighting chance to extend its life and live out the remainder of its years in a healthier, more nourishing state.

The photos below show that, indeed, our efforts seem to be helping. Read the rest of this entry »