Hi there! I'm Ranger Makenzie! And welcome to the Foothills of
Sequoia National Park. For many people, their adventure starts
here among the spiky yucca,
the twisted and bent manzanita,
and the fuzzy lupine. A lot of different plants and animals
live here. This tree is a blue oak, and it's starting to drop
its acorns for fall.
Many animals including bears, deer, squirrels, acorn
woodpeckers, and worms all snack on acorns because
they are a healthy treat!
The hard shell protects a tasty nut that
stays fresh all winter.
Now one full grown oak tree can drop over 10,000 acorns in a
single year. Now imagine if all of these oak trees dropped
thousands of acorns in a year.
Hundreds of thousands of acorns would cover the forest floor!
Well this does happen every two to five years!
When all the oak trees in an area drop a lot of acorns at the
same time, it's called "masting." This is good for the oak trees
because they drop more acorns than animals can eat in one
sitting. Now some acorns will be left alone to sprout new oak
trees where they land, while other acorns will go on an
adventure as animals carry them off and put them away to eat
later. Now, some of those animals will forget where they
put those acorns, and those acorns will grow into new
trees in a new part of the forest. But how does
"masting" happen? How do trees stretching across a whole
forest hundreds of miles work together to grow a lot of
extra acorns at the same time?
That is still a mystery, but scientists believe the secret
maybe right under our noses.
Tree roots are covered in teeny tiny, microscopic fungi that tie
different trees together so they can "talk" to one another.
Oak trees might say, "Acorn?
Acorn? Now? Acorn?" to each other. But what about other
kinds of trees?
This giant sequoia tree towers over 250 feet tall.
Many of these trees are over two thousand years old! I wonder what
these giants would discuss.
Maybe someday you will come here as a scientist to find out.
Until then, we can let our imaginations run wild! So here's
today's writing prompt.
We know that some trees can talk to each other through their root
systems. What kind of messages might trees send to each other?
Thank you for joining me today, I can't wait to read your
responses! I encourage you to explore the trees near your home
as you reflect on today's prompt. Please send a postcard
or a letter to Sequoia National Park where you can share online
by using the #WriteOut.