Saturday, October 25, 2014
The foremost oak researchers in California and the Pacific Northwest, plus researchers from Spain and South Korea, converge in Visalia (California) for the seventh California Oak Symposium Nov. 3-6. This is the symposium’s first appearance in the San Joaquin Valley since its inception 35 years ago.
“The drought will be a major focus of the symposium,” said Rick Standiford, UC Cooperative Extension forest management specialist based at UC Berkeley, and symposium coordinator. “We will also have cutting-edge research and policy presentations on sudden oak death, gold-spotted oak borer and conifer encroachment in black and Garry oak woodlands, among much more.”
California’s oak woodlands cover
10 percent of the state, and oaks are a key ecological component of
conifer forests. There are more than 20 species of native California
oaks; several are found nowhere except within the state’s borders and
some others range only as far as Canada and Mexico. Oak woodlands are
the most biologically diverse habitat in the state, making conservation a
policy and management priority.
The symposium begins with tours
of regional oaks on Nov. 3. One group will tour the Visalia urban oak
forest; a second group visits the Kaweah Oaks Preserve and Dry Creek
Preserve. Over three days, scientists will present 58 research papers on
oak management, wildlife, ecosystem services, ranching and utilization,
gold-spotted oak borer, oak restoration, and sudden oak death. Ten of
the projects focus on oak conservation, touching on such topics as
economic incentives for oak conservation, the oak conservation program
at Tejon Ranch, and the establishment of Oregon white oak and California
black oak in northwestern California.
The wildlife series of
presentations provides new information about native and introduced
species that make their homes among the oaks, including European
starlings, Pacific fishers, bats and wild pigs. Some of the ranching
topics to be discussed include the public and private incomes from
forests in Andalusia, Spain; economic incentives related to recreational
use of private oak woodland; and acorn production and utilization in
South Korea.Since 1979, the California Oak Symposium has been held every five to seven years; the last one was in Rohnert Park in 2006. Visalia was selected for the symposium because of its geographic convenience for both northern and southern California oak scientists, and the city’s commitment to the preservation and protection of native oak trees.
