Funds Sought in Oregon to Stop Plant Disease

SALEM, Ore. -- The battle to stop sudden oak death — a plant disease with potentially devastating consequences for the nursery industry — might get a $5 million boost.

An amendment to the Fiscal Year 2005 Agricultural appropriations bill could raise the amount of money that the federal government spends on fighting the sudden oak death problem from this year’s $18 million to $23 million, said Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley’s office.

Hooley introduced the amendment to raise the funding level, which passed the House of Representatives Tuesday by a vote of 260 to 160. The legislation moves to the Senate.

The amendment provides emergency funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to complete a nationwide survey for sudden oak death, a disease caused by the Phytophthora ramorum fungus.

Known for harming certain oak-tree species, the fungus can infect about 60 varieties of trees and shrubs. That includes landscaping plants valuable to Oregon’s nursery industry, such as rhododendrons and many types of camellias.

In May, Oregon started the most rigorous plant inspection program in the nation, checking every nursery in the state with susceptible plants. The stepped-up inspections came after the sudden oak death fungus was detected in a Columbia County nursery, and USDA officials considered a statewide quarantine. Industry officials say the state needs to take aggressive action to keep sudden oak death from gaining a foothold in Oregon and damaging the state’s largest agricultural business.

So far, plant inspectors have not found additional instances of sudden oak death in Oregon.

Separately, the House Appropriations Committee approved $850,000 in funding to support sudden oak death research at the University of California at Davis.