PINE FUNGUS MAKES ITS WAY TO BAY AREA : GOLDEN GATE PARK TREES AT RISK.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Sprawling Golden Gate Park This article is about the park in San Francisco. For the US National Recreation Area just north of there, see Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park. At 1017 acres (4.1 km², 1. is on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of invasion by an incurable and voracious fungus that is gradually destroying pine forests across California. The pine pitch canker canker, small sore on the inside of the mouth. A canker appears as a shallow, whitish ulcer surrounded by a thin, red area. It is tender, sometimes painful, and may occur singly or as one of a group of sores. was discovered last week on numerous Monterey pine trees near the park, and forestry experts expect to find the fungus soon in parks and private gardens throughout the city. Park officials said Tuesday that they haven't confirmed the presence of any infection on the 5,000 pine trees in Golden Gate Park, but they believe it's only a matter of time. ``It's a significant threat,'' said Larry Costello Lawrence Ronald "Larry" Costello (born July 2 1931 in Minoa, New York – died December 13, 2001) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was known as the National Basketball Association's last two-handed set shooter. , an environmental horticulturist from the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). who advises park officials. ``It's a progressive and chronic disease, and it doesn't bode well for Monterey pines in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden .'' The expected invasion comes at a bad time for the park, where officials are still dealing with the loss of nearly 2,000 trees from windstorms the past two years and where the tree population is aging faster than forestry experts can replant re·plant v. To reattach an organ, limb, or other body part surgically to the original site. n. An organ, limb, or body part that has been replanted. . Nearly 75 percent of the park's trees are considered in only fair shape or worse, and even the efforts of urban foresters to replant more than 1,000 trees a year will not stem the loss of old and dying trees. Until recently, San Francisco had dodged the disease. It is one of the last counties in this part of Northern California to be invaded by pine pitch canker, one of North America's most destructive tree diseases. The epidemic has swept through some of the last stands of native pine forests along the Monterey Peninsula and has spread as far north as Mendocino County. The pines in Golden Gate Park account for nearly 25 percent of all the park's trees. Forestry officials say the disease infects approximately 85 percent of all the pine trees in a stand, which could mean more than 4,000 pines are susceptible to the virulent fungus. ``It has us alarmed,'' said Dan McKenna, Golden Gate Park's urban forester. ``The next three years will be a critical time for us in dealing with the infection, and it means it's likely we'll have to come up with some alternative to pine trees.'' Pitch canker occurs in the Southeast and is thought to have been brought to the West Coast on firewood or lumber. It was first spotted in 1986 at New Brighton State Beach New Brighton State Beach is a protected beach located in northern California, just south of the city of Santa Cruz, California. External links
The fungus is spread within a forest by a dozen different types of beetles, but its long-distance travel has been aided by people who transport infected logs, firewood, wood chips, Christmas trees, pine cones and seedlings. Although it does not kill every tree it infects, it disfigures most and overcomes young pines quickly. In Carmel, pitch canker was recorded three years ago in 132 trees. This year, 600 trees have been infected. ``If it doesn't kill the trees outright, it sure makes them look ugly,'' said Gary Kelly, Carmel's parks director and co-chair of the state Pine Pitch Canker Task Force. ``It's hard enough managing a forest with all the pests and diseases that you see, but this is different because there's no cure. There's really nothing you can do about it.'' |
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