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Oak Grove (slide 35)
There's a strength to oaks, and an angular grace. They fascinate me and I've shot many photographs. None of them captures the life of oak groves, their calm, their scents, their playing with light. This is a small grove at Nichlas Flats, above the pond.
The trees are an ecosystem within themselves. Small creatures live in the cracks of the bark. Lichens lead their slow lives, using the tree for support. Mistletoe uses the oak's vascular system, saving the effort of making its own roots, eventually killing trees that become too old and weak to resist. Many animals, even people, eat acorns which the trees produce in great quantity.
Oaks grow slowly, and, with so many others depending on them, they have a hard time getting a start. That rare acorn which germinates had a good chance of becoming a tree until cattle were introduced. Now the sign of an unhealthy forest is one like this: there are no young trees. Maybe some will come up now that the land is protected from overgrazing.
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