CalFire and the San Bernardino National Forest Service announced Thursday they had detected the goldspotted oak borer (GSOB) in recently-killed black oak trees in the Oak Glen community.

The GSOB is an invasive beetle native to southeastern Arizona that can kill oaks native to this state, officials said. Larvae found under tree bark was analyzed and confirmed to be GSOB.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20181130/invasive-oak-beetle-found-in-san-bernardino-county

If wildfire is forcing you to replant, the California Native Plant Society is sending up a plea: Plant native now, to feed and shelter displaced creatures, protect fragile soils and discourage future fires.

Lest you get lost in the morass of options, the society has two tools to get you started: the easy-to-download California Native Plant Society Fire Recovery Guide and the super-useful interactive Calscape website.

https://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-ga-go-native-for-fire-suppression-20181208-story.html

Many of the park’s oak trees, valley and live oak, were fully burned by the fire, from top to bottom. It remains to be seen is whether they will ultimately die or resprout with the winter rains. Park scientists say not all will survive, unfortunately. It makes a difference how deeply the burn got inside the tree itself. In this droughted environment the ones that hold the most promise for survival may be the ones that have the best access to water.

https://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/f/news-community/nps-eyes-plant-growth-santa-monica-mountains-following-fire

It’s not just the US Forest Service that plants trees and does environmental restoration, and it’s not just public lands that need support. At least 40 percent of California’s lands are managed by private landowners, and trees don’t really care about private/public divides when it comes to giving much-needed ecological benefit.

There are six regions and 85 seed zones in California, consisting of areas with similar climates and soils. That’s how we’re looking at what’s needed where.

https://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/collaboration/diana_chaplin/how_businesses_are_stepping_reforest_california

For each word, he and Morris wanted to create a “summoning back—a magical procession,” Macfarlane explains. “So you open the first page for acorn, and nothing is there. Acorn is gone. All that the acorn leads to is gone. The oak tree is gone. The forest is gone. There’s just a page of almost absence.”

With that puzzle solved, “you turn the page, and there is acorn, back on gold leaf—a wonderful acorn icon painted by Jackie. And there is a full spell written by me,” Macfarlane said, “to be read aloud by the children, by their parents, anyone.”

https://qz.com/quartzy/1480959/if-you-love-nature-here-are-20-words-to-say-aloud/

The day after Christmas, Oak Glen was packed with people driving up to the 4,700 foot level - not only for the apples, but to take in the incredible scenery, punctuated by majestic oak trees. Many of them are more than 100 years old.

Arborist Doug Chudy with the Wildlands Conservancy says more than half the trees in Oak Glen are oaks.

But look closely and you'll a find a little pest that threatens their very existence: the goldspotted oak borer.

https://abc7.com/society/pest-killing-oaks-in-oak-glen/4972822/