Upcoming workshop on tree and soil care at La Casa de Maria

15 09 2009

THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF NATIVE TREE CARE

Saturday, October 10, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
La Casa de Maria Retreat Center, 800 El Bosque Road, Santa Barbara, CA

For thousands of years the native Chumash people tended the oak forests in the Santa Barbara. Now California’s oaks are endangered. Come for a workshop that will include presentations, time in La Casa’s oak woodland and a hands-on demonstration of tree care.

The Chumash used prescribed fire and other methods of traditional land management. To them, living on a living earth meant that the trees and forests were essentially organs of the planet. Keeping the trees healthy was fundamental for maintaining their quality of life.

Now-a-days, oaks and other trees are experiencing accelerated rates of decline in many parts of California, including the Santa Barbara area. A holistic view of the problem reveals that many of our aging trees and their soils are undergoing a major ecological shift brought on by changes in land management, especially fire suppression.

By revisiting the practices of the native people we are provided with an effective means of intervening in the decline of trees without the use of synthetic chemicals. Details will be presented on how fires and fire mimicry methods act to improve the fertility of soils and the health of trees. Results will be shown of case studies involving a suite of techniques to restore oak trees, including fire, mineral fertilizers, limewashing, brush clearing and mulching.

There will also be a presentation on the practical applications of the theories of agroecology that are now used in ornamental horticulture. By shifting from conventional techniques that utilize synthetic chemicals and pesticides to non-toxic organic products focused on improving soil fertility and insect ecology plant health is significantly improved.

This workshop will include a demonstration on traditional tree care using all-natural materials.

Lee Klinger, MA, PhD is an independent scientist and ecological consultant from Big Sur, with over 25 years of professional experience in the fields of biogeochemistry, forest ecology and soil science. He has held scholarly appointments at the University of Colorado, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Corey Welles is the Plant Health Care Coordinator at Lotusland. He has seen dramatic improvements in the health of their plant collections since using agroecology based practices.

For more information and to register online go to: www.lacasademaria.org


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Categories : Announcements, Fire ecology, Native people, Redwoods, Sudden Oak Death

More coast live oaks on the mend

29 07 2009

Here’s further evidence that fire mimicry treatments are helping our diseased oaks. In 2005 I began treatment of two sick coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) growing in acidic soils in Mill Valley, CA. Each of the oaks had thin canopies and bleeding stem cankers. The owner informed me at the time that UC Berkeley scientists had confirmed the presence of Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum) in trees on the property.

The photos below show how, after four years, the oaks have responded to fire mimicry treatments. The first photo shows a nice recovery of the leaf canopy, and the second photo shows how well the oaks are able to fend off the stem cankers. Bleeding is seen to have completely ceased in one of the oaks in less than four years!
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20050711.5
UC scientists and other Sudden Oak Death researchers, those who truly want to help the oaks – we should be talking. Comments, at least?


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Categories : Fire ecology, Sudden Oak Death

Using fire mimicry to treat early leaf senescence in California buckeyes

15 07 2009

The buckeye (Aesculus californica) is a deciduous tree, low and broad in stature, that is endemic to California. Every year these trees extend their gratitude by offering up a harvest of enormous size nuts. The species is a vital part of the California ecosystem and ever so worthy of our attention. Some even believe that tending the buckeyes is a responsibility passed on to us by the native people, who for the past few thousand years have been tending California’s buckeye groves.

Buckeyes do very well in open forests and savannas, especially in places where fires have been allowed to burn. However, on unburned lands buckeyes are often seen to be in poor health. Where forests are overgrown and acidified the buckeyes are experiencing serious health problems, including stem failure, canopy dieback, and any numbers of leaf blights including anthracnose and sudden oak death.

One of the first symptoms of ill health in buckeyes is the early seasonal onset of leaf senescence. Several years ago an astute friend of mine began noticing that for several years the buckeyes near her home had been losing their leaves earlier than usual. She contacted me about the problem and I suggested we try fire mimicry, the same treatments that I’ve been using on the oaks.

After four years of ongoing treatment here are the results . . .

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Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Buckeye health, Fire ecology, Fire mimicry, Moss ecology, Native people, Repeat photography, Sudden Oak Death

Coast live oaks responding to fire mimicry

22 06 2009

The use of repeat photography to document temporal changes in trees and landscapes was one of the many fine techniques I learned from my PhD advisor Prof. Tom Veblen. He taught me the importance of replicating details such the lens focal length, sky conditions, and time of day. My photos don’t always live up to his standards, but it’s not for lack of trying.

Today I would like to show repeat photographs for several coast live oak trees that have been undergoing fire mimicry treatments for exactly four years. Much of the credit for these results should go to Demetrios Sgouros, Leith Carstarphen, and Daniel Brooke who were among the first tree care specialists to recognize the utility of fire mimicry techniques in helping the many sick oaks here in California.
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Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Fire ecology, Sudden Oak Death

California Agriculture paper on Sudden Oak Death: Can conclusions of treatment efficacy be made in trials where n = 5?

27 05 2009

Earlier this year pathologists M. Garbelotto and D. Schmidt from the University of California at Berkeley published a paper in California Agriculture (a journal published by the University of California) in which they claim to have tested my holistic methods, and found that the application of “azomite soil amendment and bark lime wash was always ineffective, and did not reduce either growth or infection rates” of Phytophthora ramorum. Conversely, they report that “phosphonate treatments, legally registered in California to control sudden oak death, were effective in slowing both infection and growth rates”. They pretty much make it seem like it’s an open and shut case. But wait, there’s more. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Sudden Oak Death

KQED report on Sudden Oak Death: Fertilizing with minerals could have a “detrimental effect” on sick oaks

11 05 2009

Reporter David Gorn recently wrote on the KQED blog about Sudden Oak Death, relaying claims by UC Berkeley researcher Matteo Garbelotto that the mineral treatments I use are “like giving a glass of orange juice to someone with a terminal disease”. Furthermore, Garbelotto says that fertilizing with minerals could have a “detrimental effect” on sick oaks.

I have two questions:

What is the basis for these claims (no sources are given)? Why did the KQED reporter not do a balanced story?  Why was I not contacted by the reporter about these claims against my work?

I know, that’s three – still if anyone can help provide answers to these questions please leave a comment or email me. Let’s not speculate on motives here, just the facts.

UPDATE (May 27, 2009): David Gorn appears to be responding to my request for sources of the above claims in his KQED science blog comment here. He offers no apology for the glaring lack of balance in his piece. As for the claims I questioned him about, he writes:

“California Agriculture is a peer-reviewed academic journal. The research of Matteo Garbelotto is summarized here: http://calag.ucop.edu/0901JFM/resrchNews01.html”

The paper he seems to be referring to is “Phosphonate controls sudden oak death pathogen for up to 2 years” [California Agriculture, 63 (1): 10-17].

I’ll discuss this paper with regards to claims of inefficacy in a post following this update.

With regards to the claim that my treatments could have a “detrimental effect” on the oaks, no data or evidence is given in this paper. So I’m still left wondering if the “detrimental effect” claims have any scientific merit or basis.

This is not merely an academic matter. It’s time to resolve these differences. We need to take what we know and start helping the trees and soils. Countless oaks are at stake.


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Categories : Sudden Oak Death

Sudden Oak Death

3 05 2009

In recent years a whole lot of attention has been paid to Sudden Oak Death, a stem canker disease (Phytophthora ramorum) that has sickened countless oaks in California. I, too, believe that Sudden Oak Death is a particularly aggressive pathogen that requires our careful observation and study. To be sure, I often inspect the sick coast live oaks and tan oaks here in Big Sur and at least half have bleeding stem cankers.

Sudden Oak Death casaulty in Big Sur

Sudden Oak Death casaulty in Big Sur (photo by Lee Klinger)

Still, there are many other problems I am seeing in these forests that cannot be attributed to Sudden Oak Death. Pines are becoming infected with pitch pine canker, sycamores are sick with anthracnose, bays are toppling from a root collar fungus, and redwoods are losing their tops. It seems that something larger is going on . . . Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Big Sur, Sudden Oak Death

Acid rain in Big Sur

28 04 2009

“Having been in my progress so often misled by taking for granted the results of others, I have determined to write as little as possible but what I can attest by my own experience.” – John Dalton, Independent Scientist (1766-1844)

UPDATE (May 2, 2009): In the past 24 hours it has rained 0.93″ here in Big Sur with a pH of 4.56. I have amended the seasonal data accordingly.

UPDATE 2 (May 5, 2009): An additional 0.08″ was recorded, but the sample was too small to obtain an accurate pH reading. The seasonal data have been amended.

Anyone who thinks acid rain does not occur in pristine, unpolluted environments had better think again. Or better yet, go get some litmus paper and check it out for yourself.

Scientists studying Sudden Oak Death have dismissed acid rain as a relevant factor in oak mortality, pointing out that areas of severe decline are near the coast, upwind of the major sources of pollution, thus rainfall could not be acidic. Here along the coast of California storms blow in from the ocean where there are few sources of manmade pollutants. Rainfall pH, then, is not expected to be any more acidic than about 5.6, which is the theoretical pH of unpolluted rainwater in equilibrium with atmospheric CO2.

Acid precipitation in southeast Alaska

Acid precipitation in southeast Alaska (photo by Lee Klinger)

However, I have learned from past research that rainfall in pristine environments can sometimes be quite acidic[1]. So for the past three years I have been recording rainfall at my home in Big Sur using a Stratus RG202 rain gauge. Readings of rainfall pH have been made with a high-precision Beckman (Model Φ250) pH meter using a standard two-point (4.00 & 7.00) calibration. The rain station is located 1.2 miles from the coast at 36° 16’N; 121° 49’W, and 922’ (281 m) elevation.

Here are the results: Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Acid rain, Big Sur, Sudden Oak Death

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