“It’s just nature happening,” Sagor said. Arbor Day is a nationally celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and tree care. Despite being taprooted and therefore relatively difficult to transplant, the only bur oak tree. But he says trees and squirrels have evolved together for a long time, through mast years and otherwise. Maine and the maritime provinces of Canada. Sagor, the forest expert, said that the excessive litter of green oak leaves and twigs on the ground in parts of the state may appear alarming. Others seem to have learned that they just have to unwrap their snack first. Loegering says there’s a similar phenomenon in deer: landowners sometimes put paper caps on tree seedling buds to keep deer from browsing them and stunting the trees. Our records show it was established in 1998 and incorporated in Maine. Although the mast year bounty happens outside of typical squirrel breeding season, it may have a significant impact on winter survival. Acorn Tree Service Inc 75 Cemetery Road Lebanon, ME 04027 (207) 985-4432 About Contact Details Reviews Claim This Listing About Categorized under Tree Trimming Services for Public Utility Lines. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just one of those things, that there’s a certain fraction of squirrels that figured out this is the best way to get the acorns down early.”Īnd if they teach their offspring to do it, that may be a survival advantage as well. “I’ve heard of squirrels doing this in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Growing oaks form acorns, tree planting, understory competition control, invasive species removal, bud capping, prescribed burns, trail maintenance, GIS mapping. “It’s mostly gray squirrels,” said John Loegering, a professor of wildlife ecology in Crookston, Minn., and a wildlife specialist for the U of M’s extension service. And it may be that some squirrels are just a little sharper than others. “Once they’re down on the ground, they’re easier to collect,” Sagor said of the acorn crop.īut it doesn’t happen everywhere. In some places, the otherwise green, healthy-looking leaves rain down in veritable carpets. In some places, in some years, with some squirrels - the animals go on offense and climb into oak trees, spot clusters of huge tasty acorns at the tips of branches too small to bear even a squirrel’s weight, and just chew off twigs to get to the nuts. “It’s weird, and people notice it,” said Eli Sagor, a University of Minnesota extension service forestry expert in Cloquet. Based in Wells, Maine and working throughout the surrounding towns and villages. It’s like a planned flood of acorns, intended to simply overwhelm consumers of the trees’ fruit.īut it turns out squirrels can counterattack. They don’t seem to correspond to severe winters.Įxperts don’t know, either, how all the oaks coordinate the effort - since an abundance of acorns on only a few trees wouldn’t outstrip the appetites of squirrels. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what triggers the mast years.

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