He has received emergency funding from the federal government. That's because he is one of the lead researchers on the trail of an epidemic killing a cherished symbol of California, oak trees. Called sudden oak death, the disease has sucked the life out of tens of thousands of oaks on the Northern and Central California coast, studding hillsides with brown pockets of death. It has recently been found in nursery rhododendrons, wild huckleberries, madrone and California bay laurel trees. In some woodland spots in Northern California, every major tree type has been infected.
Researchers expect the list of susceptible species to keep growing.
And though Garbelotto has discovered a treatment that could save individual oaks in people's yards, he doesn't think he'll find a real cure. All that has brought a sense of urgency to the UC labs where Garbelotto and his Davis colleague David Rizzo are searching for answers. A forest pathologist appointed to his Berkeley post less than a year ago, Garbelotto no longer envies medical researchers. It's very exciting. The object of their attention is an organism identified by Rizzo only last year.