The decline of our native Pacific madrone is the cause of much study. This tree is prone to a number of potentially fatal pathogens including arbutus canker, a disease caused by the fungus Nattrassia mangiferae, Phytophthora cactorum, a lethal canker disease in root and butt rots, Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum) and various foliar diseases that can defoliate and weaken the tree. Plus it is extremely intolerant of pollution and is generally not happy in a cultivated garden setting, dislikes grade changes, soil compaction and regular irrigation. And it doesn't transplant easily or well, so replacing diseased specimens is problematic at best.

It is a tough tree to keep happy or healthy regardless of siting. Here in Kitsap County where the arbutus are very prevalent, it is hard to find fully healthy trees, even growing in the wild. Without a diagnosis to determine exactly what is ailing yours, I'd say the prognosis is not good. Unfortunately, the prognosis for native stands is not very good either and we are in serious risk of losing this wonderful species entirely.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arbutus decline

It is interesting that two of our native trees are having trouble. A few years ago Dogwoods died from some sort of fungal disease, but this spring they are back and looking lovely. I would hate to lose either of these beautiful trees.

Both may be clean in some locations but are otherwise blighted over large areas. So it's probably best to see them as problematic unless a different outcome is known to occur already on a particular planting site.

Yesterday I was on a local mountain among madrona that were nearly bonsai due to being on rocks and cliffs with full exposure to sun and wind. Birds were using warm updrafts to soar, during summer some of these trees must get quite a baking. Even there many were partly dead, due to pathogens.

In the past madrona seedlings coming up on their own in watered gardens have often grown fine, despite the watering. But now these may soon become diseased, same as their wild bethren.

There is also a leaf miner that gets on them right away, long before they are of any significant size.

Back east a correlation was seen some years ago between ozone pollution levels above a certain amount and incidence of dogwood anthracnose. Here where I have seen our flowering dogwood still looking good was way out in the southern Cascade mountains, where the air might still be clean enough for them.

It seems like for every big dying madrona tree I see, there are at least 10 healthy young ones coming up somewhere else. I know it's not completely out of the question, and bad things can happen (dutch elm disease?), but I really have a hard time imagining it will go extinct in our region. Certain species naturally have a life cycle limited by disease and other factors. Grand fir is another one, as I recall. Even if some of those pathogens are here due to human interference they're not running their course faster than the trees can reproduce.

I know we hear a lot about madrones being 'wiped out' and 'on the verge of extinction' due to the numerous diseases they get, which truly are numerous and potentially deadly to individual trees, but I think the fears of extinction are exaggerated. I see plenty of healthy trees, even here in town in Olympia, and plenty of young trees. I have four trees in my yard. One is essentially dead. One is on its way out. The other two are perfectly healthy. My neighbor's tree is completely healthy. Seedlings and young trees are numerous.

Sudden oak death does not attack madrones. The pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, can infect madrone foliage and cause a leaf and twig blight, but sudden oak death itself is a bark canker and is not found on madrones, just tanoaks, some red oaks, and beeches in Europe. The pathogen causes two different diseases, depending on the plant infected. Madrones in Washington have never been found to be infected with this pathogen, and I would not expect it has been found on madrones in BC either.

Branches and twigs dying on madrones is a fungal disease, which if you can reach, can be limited by pruning out the affected branches back to healthy wood. There is also a butt canker though, another fungus, which took out a friend's tree (planted as a purchased tree, not a wild tree) over the course of just a couple years. First one side of the tree wilted one year, then the other side the next year. Nothing to be done in that case. Madrones are picky about where they grow in the wild, so planting one in a soil type not to its liking is probably a losing bet. They like a rocky well-drained soil, like a nice glacial till or a sandy bluff, and she's on an alluvial loam which is great for farming and for most garden plants but not where you would find a madrone growing wild. Could well have contributed to its demise.

For list of links to pages about madrona problems...

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant-Disease Index

reg, do you know something the USDA and the Forest Service does not? According to several of their sources, Arbutus menziesii IS affected by SOD in addition to be a host species:
Tens of thousands of tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), California black oak (Quercus kelloggii), Shreve oak (Quercus parvula var. shrevei), and madrone (Arbutus menziesii) have been killed by a newly identified species, Phytophthora ramorum, which causes Sudden Oak Death.

Pacific madrone is affected by Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum). Sudden Oak Death causes a variety of foliar and branch symptoms, significant dieback, and mortality [41,45,46,102,114,115].

The madrone appears to be susceptible to infestation by Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death. Purplish leaf spots and stem cankers can result in branch dieback substantial enough to cause death (Alexander, 2002). The USDA reports that thousands of madrones have succumbed to the pathogen since its discovery in the mid-nineties (Frankel, 2001) but others caution that of all the species suspected of vulnerability to Sudden Oak Death, madrone is the most difficult host in which to recognize Phytophthora

(California Oak Mortality Task Force, 2002). Diagnosis of Phytophthora in madrones is complicated by its high susceptibility to other pathogens that have similar symptoms (Garbelotto, 2002). For example, in California's Santa Cruz Mountains, most mature madrones are infected with Botryospheria ribis, or madrone twig blight, which gradually kills the tree and has symptoms in common with Sudden Oak Death (Coate, 2002). Some advise that, until better tests for Phytophthora in madrones are developed, the presence of infected species nearby is the best indication of for determining the presence of the pathogen in the field (California Oak Mortality Task Force, 2002).

And as to the decline of Pacific madrones, that is pretty well be established also. Just Google "arbutus menziesii decline" and you'll turn up hundreds of hits, many to scholarly articles, describing this very recognized phenomenon. I'm sure a great deal of it has to do with the shrinking or continued development of their natural habitat combined with associated pollution factors, but there is little doubt that natural populations of madrone are diminishing in number, no doubt due in large part to the many, often fatal, pathogens they are prone to. In BC, they are listed as an endangered species.

Ian, I'd like to think that you are far enough away from a major metropolitan area that madrones would fare better.....here, I'd swap your numbers around. For every healthy tree I see, I see 10 that are ailing in some fashion. Generally, the only healthy trees are very young ones, typically less than around 12' in height. I can only assume that younger trees appear to be healthy only because they have not been around long enough to contract one of the may pathogens that decimates this species. I fear it is only a matter of time.

Yes: acres of madrones with blackened, wilted or long-dead crown sections are now a routine feature of local landscapes where this tree occurs in numbers. Even the shrub-sized ones on that hot, windy cliff I mentioned were heavily afflicted - plenty of sun exposure and air circulation there.

Well, it's certainly possible that we're just looking at trees performing differently in different areas. I wonder if subtle change in our climate might be contributing to its decline. Over the last 20-30 years we have trended ever so gradually towards later, wetter and warmer summers, cooler springs, and an earlier peak in winter rainfall. Also I wonder if anyone has noticed similar problems afflicting our native Arctostaphylos?

The idea of our climate change affecting these trees certainly has it's points. Spring seems to be very late each year and very wet! This tree is not exposed to pollution (only a couple of blocks from the sea in a rural area).... no sprays etc. etc. But I think it is a gonner.... too bad, at about 20 yrs old it was lovely. Any great suggestions as to a replacement? Not too large,( close to a fence,) attractive wood and fast growing and deciduous.

I too live on the sunshine coast and have been noticing this in our area for quite a few years, first noticed it out at halfmooon bay 5-6 yrs ago then moving into different areas but new trees are now growing where the old ones died. So don't think its a permanent problem. The large arbutus by the court house died veryy quickly last year right in mid berry. Ones up Sechelt inlet have also been dying but not everywhere.