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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Experts say a fungus is infecting large black walnut trees in Salem and is likely to slowly kill them.
The thousand cankers disease has infected trees at the Oregon State Hospital campus and nearby streets.
Oregon Department of Agriculture plants expert Dan Hilburn tells the Salem Statesman Journal (http://stjr.nl/1tAFveG ) that the public is likely to notice black walnut trees declining over the next five to 10 years. He says it leaves a hole in the neighborhood when a big tree dies.
The disease is caused by a fungus spread by tiny twig beetles native to the Southwest. It was discovered a decade ago in Boulder, Colorado, when hundreds of the city's black walnut trees died.
The state will remove trees when they're about two-thirds dead.
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Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com
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