To find answers, a UC Cooperative Extension scientist in San Luis Obispo County collaborated with a U.S. Forest Service scientist to study how bats use blue oak and valley oak trees in vineyards.
https://californiaagtoday.com/california-oak-trees-harbor-insect-eating-bats/
Talk about biodiversity. Consider the complexity of an oak tree, and all of the lives it sustains. Oaks, the quintessential giving tree, may host woodpeckers and other avian species, mosses, lichens, mistletoe, squirrels, insects, and more. Throughout time, oaks have given sustenance to many native cultures via their nutritious acorns; and oaks have provided wood for everything from ships to wine barrels in present time.
There are 53 oak varieties that are determined to be native to California.
Island oak, the rarest oak in California, also happens to be one of the best broadleaf evergreen trees to plant in Santa Barbara, because it is such a stunning shade tree and because it is native to our area. No adaptation to our Mediterranean climate required!
Also called the Channel Islands oak, it is now only found naturally on five of our Channel Islands (Santa Rosa Island, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island, Santa Catalina Island, and San Clemente Island), as well as on Guadalupe Island (off the coast of Baja California).
https://www.edhat.com/news/september-tree-of-the-month-island-oak
Scientists with the University of California, Berkeley, and CalFire say they discovered signs of sudden oak death this summer at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.
