There was a joke on SNL's Weekend UPdate, I checked, its true: ACORN SHORTAGE!!
from USA TODAY
Two squirrels frolic on a sidewalk in Alexandria, Va. Acorns have become rare this season in the Midwest, some parts of the Northeast and as far west as California, botanists and forestry experts say.
USA TODAY
January 15, 2009
Squirrels scrounge for acorns across USA
By Tim Evans, USA TODAY
Add squirrels to investment bankers, 401k accounts and the Detroit Lions on the list of recent big losers.
Acorns, their chief food source, have become rare this season in the Midwest, some parts of the Northeast and as far west as California, botanists and forestry experts say.
The small or non-existent acorn crops reported in many parts of the USA, though unexpected, reflect a natural cycle, they say, and pose no reason for concern — unless you are a squirrel.
"I've heard from people all over the country with mixed reports on the size of the crop in different areas," said Rod Simmons, a botanist with the city of Alexandria, Va., where acorns have been in short supply this winter. Simmons said it appears oak trees produced small crops or no acorns in many parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states. He said he also has heard similar reports from people in parts of California, Kansas, Indiana, Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
"A number of parts of the country are quite short on acorns, but there are other areas where they are plentiful," said Alan Whittemore, a research botanist at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.
Although there are theories, definitive explanations are hard to come by. "With nature, we like to categorize things — people like to understand complex things," said Scott Haulton, a forestry expert with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "But nature throws us curveballs."
Alan Van Antwerp, past president of the Northern Nut Growers Association, said acorns are plentiful in the area near his home in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Don Cobb, another association member from Waterloo, N.Y., said the crop in central New York has been "very, very heavy."
Where there are shortages, Whittemore said, it is likely the result of weather conditions. Some varieties of oak trees take two years to produce acorns, while others generate a crop every year, so the conditions that affected the current crop could go back two years.
Cold weather in the late spring can damage buds, Whittemore explained, and heavy rains during the critical late-spring pollination window can contribute to smaller crops. Summer droughts also take a toll, while fall storms can blow acorns from trees before they mature, he said.
"An oak tree can live 300 years, so one year is no big deal for them," Whittemore said.
"I've seen nothing yet to say this is anything but a normal cycle, part of the random nature of Mother Nature," said arborist Guy Sternberg of Petersburg, Ill., a founding member and vice president of the International Oak Society, a non-profit group that brings together oak enthusiasts from around the world.
Evans reports for the Indianapolis Star. Contributing: Will Higgins, Indianapolis Star.
