OAKS AT PINE VALLEY CREEK
Pine Valley Creek, home to a magnificent grove of oaks, was one of the first areas ravaged by the Goldspotted oak borer, an introduced beetle that has been feasting on San Diego oaks since at least 2008, gradually spreading northward. I have been walking with these oaks for over decade, visiting them much more frequently since the start of the pandemic.
Oak at the Trailhead, 40” x 63” 2020-2021
Dear oak what must you continue to endure? I am so grateful for your tenacity, that you are still standing, that I can greet you on my walks. Breath fills my lungs, streams downward through my feet to the ground below and upwards through the crown of my head to the sky above. As my breath streams out, I imagine it embracing you. A newly fallen branch, the leaves still green, lies at my feet. Oh, that I could breathe life into you.
Walking with Oaks: Listen to a reading presented for Zen Peacemakers, May 3, 2022.
Read more on my blog.
Above: Palliative care, photomontages of my visits to a large grove of oaks that have been slowly decomposing over the years.
Below: A large oak that is still thriving 2020-2022.
WINDY HILL PRESERVE and SURROUNDINGS
Sudden Oak Death, a disease caused by Phytophthora ramorum, a fungus-like plant introduced into the US from nursery stock, is ravaging tan oaks and some coast live oak in coastal forests in northern California and Oregon.
Tan oak dying at Windy Hill Preserve 2012, created 2015
Coastal live oak at Windy Hill Preserve, 2012
Blue oak at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford University 2012