     Photograph by Edward Troxell Case in Point : Biologist
Brock Dolman underscores the tell-tale weeping black signs of
SOD on his property.  A Changing Landscape  Sudden oak death
epidemic reshapes the North Bay  By Patricia Lynn Henley  A few
years ago, Michael Kelley realized that the hillsides on his
20-acre property near Rio Nido were covered with brown tan oak
bushes and trees--dead ones or those that were quickly dying.
"They looked like they got spray-painted overnight," Kelley
recalls. "It was kind of creepy. They looked like they'd been
hit with the evil witch's magic wand."  Two months ago, he made
a routine hike around his place to see how things were doing.
Two treasured oaks, which had appeared to be fine a month
earlier, had succumbed to sudden oak death (SOD).  "It was our
most amazing place. We called it the 'lost world,'" Kelley says
of the portion of his property that he and his wife always show
to agile visitors able to make the 20-minute trek. "Now the
two–not the tallest but the grand