COUNTYWIDE : Mighty Oaks Sprouting Once Again

In what nature lovers say is a population explosion triggered by recent rains, thousands of fragile oak seedlings are poking through the earth across Orange County, sprouting tender leaves and pushing skyward.

While many die off quickly, tree experts say the rash of seedlings is good news for tomorrow’s landscape. The increased number of fledgling trees compared to the scarce growth during previous drought-parched years, is a boon to those working to restore county parklands.

“We haven’t seen a blooming like this maybe for 50 years,” said Elisabeth Brown, a member of the Coastal Greenbelt Authority--an environmental organization that was formed to manage a wilderness park at the edge of Laguna Beach. In one area of Laguna Canyon, Brown said, she discovered hundreds of seedlings under a single tree.

“It was exciting,” she said. “It was like every acorn had sprouted.’

Jeff Powers, a landscape designer who regularly ventures into the county’s wilderness areas, said the new growth is evident throughout the county.

“If you go out into the open spaces, you can just see the carpets of oak that are several inches high blanketing the ground,” Powers said.

While not all park rangers are reporting such a proliferation of new trees, many agree that 1992 could be a banner year for oak regeneration. Mark Carlson, supervising park ranger at O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon, said the new growth will make it easier to reforest that park, a project that was already underway.

“We are having a lot more seedlings than we might otherwise,” Carlson said. “In our case, this is something that is going to help us in the redevelopment of the damaged habitat in the park.”

Brown, who opposes cattle grazing in Laguna Canyon partly because of the damage to the natural habitat, said the new growth makes it all the more important to stop the cattle from feeding off the shrubs there. “We really need to take advantage of the fact that nature has come up with this bumper crop of oak seedlings and let them grow,” Brown said. “Either we let them grow naturally, or we’re going to have to replant them all over the area because there are not (many) young trees.”

California Oak Foundation President Janet Cobb said research is being conducted statewide to learn how to prolong the life of a fallen acorn.

Oak trees, which have shaded many back yards and housed countless tree forts, have a sentimental value for Californians, Cobb said. They can also boost land values, she said, adding about $50,000 to the purchase price of a home.

While the impact of the rains has varied throughout the state, Cobb said it’s important to encourage the new growth where it is taking place.

“Obviously, after six years of drought, we’re thrilled to have rain this year, and it has generated oak reproduction for sure,” Cobb said. “A lot of those little sprouts won’t make it, but we’re thrilled that so many of them are popping up anyway.”

When possible, seedlings should be fenced in until they are sturdier to keep them from being eaten by animals, trampled by humans or felled by lawn mowers, experts said.

“What we are doing is encouraging people to protect them as much as possible,” Cobb said. “Oaks are part of our heritage and, like most things that are part of our heritage, we take them for granted until we are about to lose them.”