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Disease stunts Douglas-fir . Swiss needle cast, a fungus known in North American Douglas-fir forests since 1938, is reaching epidemic proportions in northwestern forests. In Oregon, the disease affected over 130,000 acres in 1996, and nearly 400,000 in 1997. Symptoms include chlorotic needles, loss of previous years' needles and reduced height growth. The disease was first discovered in 1925 on Douglas-fir plantations in Switzerland, where the tree had been introduced for plantation forestry.