Golden State Naturalist28 Okt 2025

Critical Mast: Oak Trees with Zarah Wyly

We need every single species of native tree here in California, but our 20+ varieties of native oaks are the most crucial of all. In this episode, join me and my guest, Zarah Wyly, on a walk through a relatively new oak woodland in Folsom dotted with two ancient, magnificent oak trees. Learn the story of how this unusual woodland came to be, find out why oaks are my all-time favorite trees, and explore such questions as: What kinds of life are supported by oak trees? If I plant one, will it wreck my house? What do you have to do to acorns to make them edible? Why does it look like some oak trees are growing apples? How do oaks spread such heavy seeds? What kinds of variety is there among different oak species? What does any of this have to do with the Declaration of Independence?

And here's a handy list of the other podcasts participating in Critical Mast!

Future Ecologies
Jumpstart Nature
Nature's Archive
Learning from Nature: The Biomimicry Podcast
Outside/In

Ok, get ready for a lot of links. Here you goooooo!

The Declaration of Independence and the Hand of Time

The Nature of Oaks, by Douglas Tallamy

National Resources Conservation Service Resource on Grazing

Secrets of the Oak Woodlands, by Kate Marianchild

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

City Nature Challenge

Sacramento Tree Foundation

Calscape (to help with planting natives!)

Daniel Airola's research on bird diversity in urban forests

The theme song is called "i dunno" by grapes, and it can be found here.

Follow me on Instagram @goldenstatenaturalist

My website is www.goldenstatenaturalist.com

You can find me on Patreon here.

Episode photo by Bendp

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