Citizen scientists are once again beginning their annual Northern California search for signs of Sudden Oak Death, reported Lisa Krieger in the San Jose Mercury-News. Volunteers were trained in Santa Cruz on Friday and training sessions are planned for Orinda, Berkeley, San Francisco, Saratoga, Burlingame, Woodside, Atherton and Los Altos Hills.

"This outreach is really important because it not only teaches people how to look for the disease, but it also helps them to monitor for it in their community, allowing them to identify new outbreaks quickly," said Matteo Garbelotto, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley.

Sudden Oak Death is caused by Phytophthora ramorum, a microbe that came to California from overseas. The disease has killed more than a million trees in 14 coastal counties from Monterey to Humboldt.