#oaks

"The largest oak in Pennsylvania." Historic American trees. 1922,

The Raven Maiden By Jeff Stanford, 2026 Buy prints of this image at: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-raven-maiden-jeff-stanford.html    or more of my images at: https://jeff-stanford.pixels.com/

You see, they are the only oak native to Washington state. They are also the only oak native to British Columbia. Check out their native range:

Oaks are amazing trees that play a huge role in ecosystems, both as food and habitat. They support hundreds of animal species. Do you like birds? Concerned that song bird populations are falling? Well, birds need bugs, and oaks feed and house so. many. bugs. And so many kinds of bugs!

Concerned about climate change and thinking about doing a little assisted migration of some trees? Here's an incredible keystone species that spans from Victorian B.C. to Fresno, California! Talk about genetic diversity and adaptability!

They are also a very culturally relevant tree- before colonization, they were a major food crop, and they have less tannins than many other oak species, so they're easier to process into food. They are part of the oak-prairie ecosystem up here in Washington state, of which only 3% remains. This ecosystem has been maintained by the native peoples here through the use of intentional fire (and now conservation groups and the U.S. government have realized, hey, this is actually a super useful tool! so they're doing it too now), and supports a broad range of species that are struggling now (like the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly) and other edible plants, like camas and triteleia!