It has been reported that the globally endangered tree, the Dracaena ombet of the Elba Mountains of Egypt are exhibiting widespread decline especially during the last 10 years. A detailed survey for the Elba Mountain area that lies between 450m and 1436m of altitude inside the Gabel Elba Protected Area (GEPA), has been carried by the Gabel Elba Protected Area's rangers as part of the Dracaena ombet Monitoring and Assessment Project, funded by the Conservation Leadership Programs. The survey's results show that this decline is occurring and has accelerated at the lower and middle elevations of the Dracaena ombet range, with unhealthy trees, no sign of any new generation, pathogens effecting the trees and widespread tree death between 450-850m. At higher altitudes, the Dracaena woodland in general is healthy, maybe due to a scattered distribution pattern for this tree at these elevations, rather than a grove-distribution as at the mid elevation, or maybe for other reasons. This altitudinal pattern of Dracaena woodland conditions in the GEPA is very similar to that documented for the Dracaena ombet population of the Erkowit mountain in north east Sudan from about 50 years ago. We detected the effects of pathogens among most of the population of trees, but these do not appear to be responsible for the observed decline.
