The decade long scourge of Goldspotted Oak Borer (GSOB) continues to
damage and to kill oak trees on the Hill. Despite multiple efforts to
eradicate this nemesis, its destruction is still present.

Callie Squires, executive director for the Mountain Communities Fire
Safe Council (MCFSC), has announced that funding is available either to
spray threatened and damaged trees or to remove dead or dying trees.

Individuals may call MCFSC (see last paragraph) to request an
inspection.

Warning signs may include red or black staining in dime-sized to half
foot sections, crown thinning, twig and branch die-back, premature leaf
loss, or mall D-shaped exit holes where the beetles pupate and emerge
from the tree, according to MCFSC.

The preventive barrier spray treatment is intended to protect trees from
the invasive GSOB or to prevent further damage if an infestation has
started, according to Squires.

If spraying is needed, there will be no cost to the property owner, she
added. Spring, particularly April and May, is the best time of the year
for this action and success has been noted in the past several years.

Sprayed trees are still living and no further infestation has been seen,
she noted.

“If the tree is very diseased or dead, it may require removal,” Squires
said. “That service will have a 25% cost share.”

MCFSC will offer the project for bid to its group of approved tree
contractors. The lowest bid will be offered to the homeowner. If it is
accepted, the homeowner will pay 25% of the total cost for removal.

MCFSC has about $800,000, from the National Forest Foundation, available
this year for GSOB treatments. About $300,000 will be used for spraying
trees and the balance for removal of dead or dying trees, according to
Squires.

Surprisingly, humans may be unknowing contributors to GSOB infestations.
“We are finding the highest rate of infestation in areas where people
are,” Squires acknowledged. “The highest concentrations are at Humber
Park and Lake Fulmor, and, also near Forest Service campgrounds and
yellow post sites.

“Where people are going for day use, this year there’s evidence of
infestation in about 25% of these active sites,” she noted.

To get help, call MCFSC at 951-659-6208 or send an email to
[email protected].

Waiting to cut tree allows pest to spread to healthy trees

Community protection and financial aid may be a conflict that is yielding the proverbial “unanticipated results,” opined Gregg Bratcher, Cal Fire’s division chief for forestry on the Hill.

Although the number of oaks infested with the Goldspotted oak borer continues to increase on the Hill, Bratcher is concerned that residents are deferring or delaying the removal or protection of these infested trees until they obtain a grant from the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council.

Edwina Scott, MCFSC executive director, confirmed, “We are getting the same response from homeowners. We do not have funds to remove GSOB trees. Our dead and dying tree removal grant is based on the Governors Emergency Proclamation for bark beetle trees.”

An infested tree cannot be saved. The larvae have had time to feed on the tree’s cambium layer, which eventually interferes with the movement of nutrients from the roots to the leaves. But healthy trees can be protected with appropriately applied pesticides, according to Bratcher.

“Spraying is [needed] for spring time just before flight season after the spring moisture. Generally done around April,” Bratcher urged. But some property owners want to wait until late summer or fall before taking action. They seem “unwilling or unable to take preventive maintenance,” he thought.

This delay allows the GSOB time to evolve from its larval stage, exit the oak and take flight through the neighborhood and community, landing on and attacking healthy oaks. Consequently, even if the infested tree is eventually cut, the infestation has had an opportunity to spread.

Bratcher, who has observed this behavior and discussed it with local arborists, shared his thoughts after the recent Mountain Area Safety Task Force meeting last week.

John Huddleston of Precision Tree Experts says arborists have three different methods to help the oaks. “There are barriers, partial systemics and total systemics,” he wrote in an email.

He summarized each strategy: “The barrier strategy is a compound called bifenthrin. It is an extremely common insecticide found in many common products.

“The partial systemic strategy is a compound called dinotefuran. When mixed with a penetrating surfactant, it can be applied directly to the bark and will travel into the leaves. Adult GSOB beetles are poisoned when they eat the leaves. It does not affect any larvae that are feeding in the phloem. It needs to applied in April, and will break down in about three months.

“The full systemic strategy is a compound called emamectin benzoate. It is injected directly into the tree’s xylem by drilling holes into the root flare. It will affect the adults that feed on the leaves, as well as the larvae feeding in the phloem.”

Money and cost are not the only concern property owners have, according to Huddleston. The effect on honey bees is frequently mentioned, but “California requires that every pesticide of these classes have information in the label regarding that product’s specific threat to bees,” he said.

Applicators must have a license from the state and county. Any questions about the status, licensing and registration of any of the listed or non-listed companies should be directed to the Riverside Agricultural Commissioner’s Office at 951-955-3045.

A list of operators in Riverside County can be found at http://ucanr.edu/sites/gsobinfo/Resources/By_County/Riverside_County/Licensed_Pest_Control_Operators-Riverside_County/ and to verify a license one can visit www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CheckLicense.aspx.

The GSOB hotline remains 951-659-8328. He urged residents to call if they fear a local oak has been infested with GSOB.

“We need to collaborate. Everyone on the Hill is affected by the GSOB,” he lamented.

The Goldspotted oak borer has established itself in Idyllwild, but its spread and breadth have been much slower than its invasion in San Diego County, according to Dr. Tom Scott and Kevin Turner, both of the University of California, Riverside, Cooperative Extension.

Both men were in Idyllwild last week to discuss the GSOB presence and current conditions with members of the Mountain Community Fire Safe Council and its GSOB volunteers.

“We’re still discovering trees [with GSOB], but we’re not seeing an escalating outbreak,” Scott said. “We’re still finding trees already infested, but they are not spreading rapidly.”

As of early October, a total of 53 trees on the Hill had been identified as being the target of GSOB infestations. Since the first identified tree was in the fall of 2012, both men thought the GSOB’s infestation has been slower and less pervasive than in San Diego County.

There, the GSOB’s presence has begun to spread throughout the county from its original locations. Scott described what he believes is the first natural expansion of its habitat since it has been found in a location miles from human habitat. Since the beetle’s larvae are within the bark of oaks, officials have thought the beetle spreads primarily through the transport of oak firewood until this discovery.

While it is still early to identify the difference between the GSOB’s spread here and in San Diego County, Turner acknowledged that no other community has committed as much resources — funding and volunteers — to combat the insect’s invasion of forest oaks as Idyllwild.

Scott estimated that nearly 40,000 acres in San Diego have been identified as GSOB locations. Between 50,000 and 200,000 oaks have probably died as a result of this infestation, he added.

Exacerbating the insect’s damage, and a possible harbinger of more damage, is its attack on Coastal Live oaks near Mt. Palomar. Previous GSOB victims have been limited to Black oaks.

The Goldspotted oak borer has established itself in Idyllwild, but its spread and breadth have been much slower than its invasion in San Diego County, according to Dr. Tom Scott and Kevin Turner, both of the University of California, Riverside, Cooperative Extension.

Both men were in Idyllwild last week to discuss the GSOB presence and current conditions with members of the Mountain Community Fire Safe Council and its GSOB volunteers.

“We’re still discovering trees [with GSOB], but we’re not seeing an escalating outbreak,” Scott said. “We’re still finding trees already infested, but they are not spreading rapidly.”

As of early October, a total of 53 trees on the Hill had been identified as being the target of GSOB infestations. Since the first identified tree was in the fall of 2012, both men thought the GSOB’s infestation has been slower and less pervasive than in San Diego County.

There, the GSOB’s presence has begun to spread throughout the county from its original locations. Scott described what he believes is the first natural expansion of its habitat since it has been found in a location miles from human habitat. Since the beetle’s larvae are within the bark of oaks, officials have thought the beetle spreads primarily through the transport of oak firewood until this discovery.

While it is still early to identify the difference between the GSOB’s spread here and in San Diego County, Turner acknowledged that no other community has committed as much resources — funding and volunteers — to combat the insect’s invasion of forest oaks as Idyllwild.

Scott estimated that nearly 40,000 acres in San Diego have been identified as GSOB locations. Between 50,000 and 200,000 oaks have probably died as a result of this infestation, he added.

Exacerbating the insect’s damage, and a possible harbinger of more damage, is its attack on Coastal Live oaks near Mt. Palomar. Previous GSOB victims have been limited to Black oaks.

Former Fire Chief Dave Driscoll made a presentation about the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy to the Mountain Area Safety Taskforce last week.

When the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement (FLAME) Act of 2009, a provision in the law mandated the development of a national, cohesive, wildland fire management strategy. Its purpose was to comprehensively address wildland fire management activities and strategies across all lands in the U.S. Shortly after enactment of the law, an intergovernmental planning and analysis process involving the public was initiated and is commonly referred to as the Cohesive Strategy effort.

Driscoll has been working with fire agencies across the country, including the Western Governors Conference, as part of the effort sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Collaborative efforts to enhance fire protection, as the Hill’s MAST intended from its inception more than a decade ago, have been the goal of local cohesive strategies. Driscoll has promoted Riverside County’s program for several years, he said.

Of the 72,000 communities in the U.S. at risk to wildfire threats, only 20,000 have prepared a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The Hill, under the aegis of the Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council, has a CWPP. Currently, MCFSC is preparing an update to the local plan.

Driscoll stressed that the three biggest challenges to fire protection efforts are landscapes filled with an overgrowth of vegetation, population expanding into the wildland urban interface and the growing risk to firefighters and citizens.

Other programs and policies, which are part of a cohesive strategy, such as defensible space and “Ready, Set, Go” are already familiar to local residents, Driscoll noted.

“I don’t think there’s anything you guys aren’t doing,” Driscoll said. Despite enhanced fire protection projects, wildfires can still occur. “The true cost of a wildfire can be two to 30 times the suppression costs,” he said.

During the agency roundtable, MCFSC Executive Director Edwina Scott reported that 63 homes have had their wooden cedar shake roofs replaced with fire-resistant shingles in the past year. Another 18 are nearly finished for a total of 81 out of 110 eligible homes.

The Fire Code Committee, which Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins established, has met and is working to find a solution that combines the best of local fire abatement ordinances with the state’s public resource code, said member Sue Nash.

“We’re working to develop a policy for throughout the county to do appropriate fire hazard abatement appropriate to the property in all jurisdictions and have the capability to hire a contractor to do the work,” Nash said.

“I’m confident we’ll move that ahead,” Hawkins added.

The discussion also re-emphasized the threat and danger that the bark beetle and goldspotted oak borer bring to the Hill.

“There’s been a huge increase in bark beetle activity this year,” reported Dave Simmons, Southern California Edison project manager. In all of 2013, about 1,300 trees were removed from the Hill and San Bernardino County. “So far in 2014, we removed about 1,500 trees and expect to cut more than 2,000, maybe closer to 2,500 trees,” Simmons said.

In Idyllwild, about 400 trees have been removed and Simmons expects the total to approach 800 to 900 by the end of the year. From identification to removal takes between six to eight weeks, he said. “But we hope to see that compressed,” Simmons added.

Riverside County Forester Chief Gregg Bratcher reported that the number of trees with confirmed GSOB infestation in this area is now at 52, a 25-percent increase in the past month.

Some property owners are still reluctant to call for identification of GSOB infections, according to Bratcher. But he stressed that Cal Fire cannot remove the damaged trees without the property owner’s permission.

If property owners suspect that an oak tree may be infected, they should first visit the University of California, Riverside’s GSOB site, http://ucanr.edu/sites/gsobinfo/. Then call Cal Fire’s GSOB hotline at 951-659-8328.

Riverside County has received a grant from the U.S. Homeland Security Department to finance a replacement of the county’s current advance warning system, according to Peter Lent, deputy director of Riverside County’s Office of Emergency Services. The original system was installed in 2008 and he hopes the new one will be operational next summer.

He also announced that OES will be working with all of the volunteer groups on the Hill in early December. “There are great volunteer groups on the Hill and great volunteers in the community,” he said. “A recruitment fair is planned as a reach-out to the different volunteer groups.”