Report of Die-off in Snohomish County: Lord Hill Regional Park

Amy Lucas, Senior Park Planner with Snohomish County Parks, reports:

We recently received a citizen report of a similar die-off at our Lord Hill Regional Park. I went in the field yesterday with one of our Senior Rangers and found 3 suspect sites. Two sites were small, and surrounding salal had spots, much like black spot on a rose plant.

We hiked to a much larger site that showed signs of complete sword fern mortality that looked like it was spreading radially. The ground at that site was barren, and the brown fronds were spreading to surrounding plants. 

These photos seem convincing to me, though I have not yet visited the site for a close inspection, and we as yet do not have measurements of extent or rate of spread.  Leaves in the bottom-most photo perhaps obscure dead fern crowns?  It usually takes two years to progress from first symptoms to crown stubble.  

This report, if confirmed, indicates a new direction of spread, to the north and east of Seattle, about 30 miles from Seward Park, and 30 miles west of Baring, a small and apparently isolated residential die-off   - Paul