Associated Press
 
November 24, 2009
 
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. -- Californians who travel to Oregon's Curry County to get Douglas fir trees for Christmas won't be able to bring them back.
 
The California Department of Food and Agriculture says it will confiscate the trees at the agency's Smith River Border Inspection Station on Highway 101 in an effort to stop the spread of sudden oak death, a deadly tree disease caused by a fungus.
 
An agency spokesman says the ban applies to trees cut for personal use, and to Douglas firs bought from commercial vendors.
 
Douglas fir trees can host the disease, which exists in 14 California coastal counties stretching from Humboldt to Monterey. Other species of trees aren't affected.