Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Native Oaks Trees Or Other Wildlife in the East Bay, Call Or Email a Park District Naturalist at One of the Visitor Centers Listed Below

Native Oaks Trees Or Other Wildlife in the East Bay, Call Or Email a Park District Naturalist at One of the Visitor Centers Listed Below

QUESTIONS: If you have any questions about Native or other in the , call or email a Park District naturalist at one of the Visitor Centers listed below. of the ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Fremont 510-544-2797, [email protected] East Bay BLACK DIAMOND MINES © 2001 Julie Kierstead Nelson EBRPD Staff Antioch 510-544-2750, [email protected] interior (Quercus wislizenii) blue oak () BOTANIC GARDEN Early explorers found this evergreen with lobed or plain bluish-green colored Berkeley 510-544-3169, www.nativeplants.org oak throughout ’s Great . Warty caps. COYOTE HILLS REGIONAL PARK Central Valley. Grows as a scrub in Fremont 510-544-3220, [email protected] challenging like the top of or as a broad, spreading CRAB COVE at CROWN BEACH 510-544-3187, [email protected] in more favorable conditions. SUNOL REGIONAL WILDERNESS Sunol 510-544-3249, [email protected] TILDEN NATURE AREA/EEC and LITTLE FARM Berkeley 510-544-2233, [email protected]

Text: Frank Binney Design: Victoria Baird & Nick Cavagnaro © Naturesongs & Doug Von Gausig Von & Doug © Naturesongs Cover Photo: EBRPD Staff Palmer oak (Quercus palmeri) Evergreen with wavy and very spiny This brochure is provided as a public leaves. Acorn cups have a distinctive, © 2009 Neal Kramer service of the Interpretive and Recre- loose fitting appearance. Rare in north- valley oak () ation Services Department of the East ern California. Deciduous with deeply lobed leaves. Bay Regional Park District. California’s tallest growing oak. For more information on native oaks, East Bay Regional Park District 2950 Peralta Oaks Court or to get involved in their preservation P.O. Box 5381 Oakland, CA 94605-0381 contact the California Wildlife Founda- C t CHLORIN s on ED E S F 1-888-EBPARKS www.ebparks.org s S R Po E E um C E %

O 0 e R

tion at: www.californiaoaks.org P TRS Relay: 711 0 100% r 1

6/10

Mighty oaks from Lucky PEOPLE AND OAKS— AN EnDURING RELATIONSHIP A mature oak tree can produce thou- The trees Californians love sands of acorns in a year. The chances of one of these seed-bearing nuts be- Could you imagine California without coming an oak tree are very slim—only oak trees? Oaks beautify our neigh- about one in every 10,000 acorns be- borhoods, shade our backyards, and comes a tree! Most acorns become food define the scenic character of the East for hungry insects, , and . In

Bay’s tree-studded, grassy hillsides. © 2009 Neal Kramer a mutually beneficial relationship, oak Oak trees also provide food and trees depend on acorn-eating wildlife to coast live oak () shelter to many different kinds of our move their seeds away from the parent Evergreen with spiny leaves. One of local wildlife. When you think of your tree to another area suitable for oak the two most common oak trees in favorite view of an East Bay landscape, tree growth. Scrub jays and squirrels the East Bay and the tree that gave are there trees in the picture? store food for the future by hiding Oakland its name. Chances are you’ll see native oaks acorns in crevices and holes in the somewhere in the scenery. ground. Most of these hoarded nuts will The heart of a natural later be eaten, but a few manage to germinate and survive, beginning a new community Alan Dalton generation of oak trees. A single oak tree can nurture a rich Local and Bay Miwok peoples diversity of life, from and - used specialized horticultural meth- peckers to mistletoe and mushrooms. ods to increase the biodiversity of oak When many oaks grow with other woodlands. Some, like Ruth Orta, make in an interconnected natural acorn soup using old and new methods. community, they support one of the Consulting Terra © 2008 Bon richest and most biologically diverse Live Oaks vs. Deciduous Oaks canyon live oak () habitats in California. Oak woodlands Seven of native oak trees com- Evergreen with the underside of provide a home to over 170 species prise most of the oaks you’ll see in East leaves pale blue. Acorn caps display a of birds, 100 mammals, 60 amphib- Bay landscapes. Three of these species wooly, yellow fuzz.

ians and reptiles, and 4000 species of EBRPD Staff are drought-deciduous—they lose insects. All depend on the oak trees black oak () Deciduous their leaves during winter. The other and on each other to survive. with large, deeply cut pointed leaves. four are evergreen—they keep their In fall, leaves turn bright yellow. canopy year-round and so appear “live” when deciduous oaks are leafless.

Top View