In a forest clearing near Lake Blue Ridge in northwest Georgia’s Fannin County the other day, Adam Hammond peered through binoculars at the top of a tall white oak tree. “Ninety percent,” he said.
Then, focusing on another huge oak, he exclaimed: “Wow. That’s just covered with acorns; I give it 100 percent.”
A wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Hammond was doing his annual fall acorn survey, and I was tagging along. Each scrutinized tree was given a score according to what percentage of its crown bore acorns.
Many of the oaks — mostly white oaks, Southern red oaks and chestnut oaks — that we looked at scored 90 percent or higher. A few acorn-scarce oaks, though, scored 20 percent or lower.
Hammond and fellow biologists conduct the acorn surveys each year in late summer at some 25 wild areas in North Georgia’s mountains and the upper Piedmont. Survey routes consist of six to 15 stops at 1-mile intervals. At each stop, two to four trees are examined for their acorns.
The biologists compile and analyze all of the data to determine how big North Georgia’s fall acorn crop will be. “So far it looks like some areas will have an abundance of acorns while others might have a little scarcity,” Hammond said. “But I don’t think we’ll have a total acorn failure anywhere.”
Major emphasis is placed on acorns because they are the most important wildlife food in the mountains and the Piedmont region during autumn and winter. Some 100 species — including white-tailed deer, black bears, squirrels, mice, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, turkeys, bobwhite quail, woodpeckers and blue jays — depend on acorns (especially those of white oaks) to help see them through the cold months.
Accordingly, populations and health of wildlife often rise and fall with acorn availability. Acorn productivity also helps biologists predict wildlife behavior. During years of low acorn production, for instance, black bears may roam farther afield in search of food and become nuisance animals in urban areas.
In large part, acorns have filled a niche created by the near elimination of American chestnuts in North Georgia’s forests because of the chestnut blight. Chestnuts once provided abundant food for a variety of wildlife.
IN THE SKY: The moon will be new tonight. By Sunday, look for a thin crescent moon low in the west just after dark, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus rises out of the east about three hours before sunrise. Mars is low in the west just after dark and sets in the west a few hours later. Mars will appear near the moon on Wednesday. Jupiter rises out of the east about midnight. Saturn is low in the west at dark and sets a few hours later.
