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Senator Brock Smith urges funding to combat sudden oak death; committee hears technical testimony
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Summary
Senate Bill 339, a proposal to appropriate $3.1 million from the general fund to the Oregon Department of Forestry for integrated pest management to combat sudden oak death, drew testimony on the disease's spread and economic risk in southwest Oregon.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Environment on Feb. 17 held a public hearing on Senate Bill 339, which would appropriate $3.1 million from the general fund to the Oregon Department of Forestry to carry out an integrated pest management program to combat sudden oak death (SOD). The bill would reserve $50,000 as a block grant to the Association of Oregon Counties for a task-force on integrated pest management.
Senator David Brock Smith, sponsor of the bill and a senator representing Southwest Oregon, described the history of the state response and recent outbreaks. He said the pathogen—commonly called sudden oak death—is a water mold that affects hundreds of host species and that the E1 strain is aggressive and poses a serious risk to Douglas-fir and other conifers as well as tanoaks in southwest Oregon. "This is a billion-dollar problem for the state, especially our nursery industry," he said, citing an economic-impact study filed with the record.
Witnesses described surveillance, quarantine and response activity. Committee testimony and submitted materials show quarantine areas, monitoring sites using stream-bait traps, and localized outbreaks such as the Port Orford infestation, which public testimony linked to movement of infected yard debris at a transfer station. Agency representatives said recent detection work includes genetic sequencing done in partnership with Oregon State University and federal partners; Jonathan Sandow, deputy director at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said the department retains quarantine authority and coordination with federal partners is important for federal quarantine actions.
Witnesses described response methods including girdling and removal followed by high-temperature burning to destroy the pathogen; some community response work has used air-curtain burners to reach temperatures that kill the organism. Testimony noted that current state resources are modest compared with the scale of work needed, and that the appropriation in SB 339 represents only a small portion of recommended funding. Senator Brock Smith and other committee members said the allocation would support rapid response, contractor work on the ground and continued surveillance.
The committee closed the public hearing; no committee vote was taken on SB 339 during this session.
