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They may have suffered from Sudden Oak Death. My limited understanding is that because the disease spreads erratically they prefer to remove infected trees in o
by n8agrin 17y ago
They may have suffered from Sudden Oak Death. My limited understanding is that because the disease spreads erratically they prefer to remove infected trees in order to prevent others from becoming infected, and to prevent damage being caused from the dead, weakened tree.
Edit: It appears there is no known cure, only preemptive measures.
http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/ http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/
- pg 17y agoAt first I thought it might be some kind of serious disease. Why else would they do such a crazy thing? But all the other arguments the city listed, e.g. "Their branches cover street lights and grow over building storefronts and roofs requiring frequent tree trimming. They bear and drop large acorn fruits that are tripping hazards for pedestrians." make it clear this wasn't the case. If they were infected by some tree plague, it would have been enough to say just that.
- pyre 17y agoSounds more like the business owners didn't like the trees and wanted to get rid of them. All other reasons are probably just there to justify it in a way that doesn't make them look like the 'bad guys.'
- dfranke 17y agoThere seems to be a high incidence of Sudden Oak Death in areas populated by aesthetically-impaired bureaucrats. I recommend a study to determine whether they constitute a potential vector for the spread of the disease, and if so, preemptively eradicating them.
- car 17y agoThat was my first thought too. Here a PBS QUEST feature about sudden oak death in California: http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/sudden-oak-death http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/sudden-oak-death