Photo by Sally King Post laying down – Stop 8: Several species of oaks are found in riparian areas like the small group here but they are also found on the mesatops in the Piñon-Juniper Woodland and Mixed Conifer Forest. In the canyons, oaks grow into small trees up to 60 feet tall but usually remain short and shrubby on the drier mesas. Acorns are an important food for wildlife such as black bear, Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, and rock squirrels. The Ancestral Pueblo people ate them too. Acorns are usually boiled before human consumption to remove tannic acid that makes them taste very bitter. In autumn, oaks turn burnished yellow or red. The plant maintains the dead brown leaves until spring when new growth forces the old leaves to fall.
Photo by Sally King |
Last updated: January 16, 2022