Erin Jordan, The Cedar Rapids Gazette
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White oak trees with no visible insects or fungus are dying on ravines and ridge tops across the Midwest - in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Foresters, who agree that climate change has played a role in the trees' rapid decline, can do little more than cut down the majestic trees and harvest them quickly to beat the rot. There is hope that a new test may help solve the mystery of the epidemic called rapid white oak mortality.