Reader's Photos: Sudden Oak Death Reaches Los Gatos

With the recent news that the nasty Sudden Oak Death syndrome is attacking local trees, Los Gatos Patch reader Laurel Lee McCarthy took some photos of the evidence.

What she found is disturbing. A once-gorgeous and blooming oak tree, located on Bella Vista Avenue, is being ravaged by the disease.

"There's a little bit of green still on it at the very top," Lee wrote in an email to this editor. "But 95 percent of it appears to be dead."

Lee said she noticed the dying oak while out for a walk. "We have hundreds of these beautiful Oaks in my neighborhood, and I'm very concerned that the trees will start dying now, one-by-one," she said.

with results showing that the trees are carrying the pathogen that kills oaks and tanoaks, native California species.

Most samples collected in the Los Gatos-Saratoga area of Skyline Boulevard have tested positive for the disease, according to an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.