Providing For National Plan For Control and Management of Sudden Oak Death

PROVIDING FOR NATIONAL PLAN FOR CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT OF SUDDEN OAK DEATH -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4569) to provide for the development of a national plan for the control and management of Sudden Oak Death, a tree disease caused by the fungus-like pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, and for other purposes.

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Mr. BURNS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the Committee on Agriculture for moving this rapidly through the committee and to the floor of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4569 in an effort to stop a nationwide tree epidemic before it further infects America's forest and horticultural industry. Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleague from Georgia (Mr. Scott) and I introduced this legislation because we recognize the similarities of what could result if sudden oak death disease continues to spread across the Nation in a similar fashion to that of the Dutch elm disease which devastated American forests and cities in the 1930s.

The bill would expand the U.S. Department of Agriculture's endeavors to halt the spread of the oak-destroying fungus Phytophthora ramorum and its harmful effect on America's oaks. Phytophthora ramorum invades susceptible trees through the bark, killing portions of the tree, creating an ideal environment for insects and other fungi to invade. Although primarily a west coast disease today, the sudden oak death disease has infected nurseries all across the United States and has recently made its way to Georgia through the sale of plants in the nursery industry killing over 100,000 oaks in the process, putting businesses in danger of closing and millions of trees at risk.

Our Nation's oak woodlands, urban forests, agricultural forestry and horticultural industries are all in jeopardy. The sudden oak death disease now affecting several States across our country has everyone waiting for something to be done to address this potentially disastrous problem. Sudden oak death negatively affects ecosystem functions, increases fire and safety hazards, and reduces property values in developed areas.

Over 7 million people lived where the initial outbreak occurred in the urban/wildland interface of central and coastal California. Neighborhoods were transformed within months. Dead trees surrounded communities where green trees formerly thrived. Communities were overwhelmed as residential yards, parks, open space and recreation areas were irreparably altered and in need of costly removal of thousands of hazardous trees.

The U.S. ornamental industry is valued at over $13 billion in annual sales, the third largest crop value in America. Georgia produces over $601 million in sales annually, and in my district alone, the 12th District of Georgia, we have $66 million in ornamental horticulture sales. Our nursery and horticultural interstate trade, international export markets, lumber companies and gardeners all will suffer a traumatic loss if we do not take action to prevent the spread of the sudden oak death disease.

We have seen the early stages of the sudden oak death disease and its capability of spreading far and wide. If we fail to stop this threat to our oak trees, the similar type of disease that caused catastrophic damage among Dutch elms over decades ago, the Dutch elm disease, will seem pale by comparison. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4569 is bipartisan legislation that takes the necessary steps to combat this threat. We need our Secretary of Agriculture to immediately develop a plan to manage this disease that is rapidly spreading across our Nation.

I urge my colleagues to vote "yes" to protect our 21st century forests and our horticulture industry from the kind of devastation that we experienced in the 1930s with Dutch elm disease.

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