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Sam Knott Oak Mitigation Effort |
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Sam Knott, his wife Joyce, sister Jean Thompson and Joe
Joe helped Sam plant oaks at his park. Sam agreed to gift 300 oaks for North Wildcat Canyon road safety improvements at Joe's request. Photo was our handshake agreement to work together. I meet Sam after getting a contact from Mike Kulis of county supervisor Dianne Jacob's office. Thank you Dianne for pointing me to a meeting with this great man. He was a real pleasure to know.
Sadly Sam passed away 2 months later....
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Sam's wife Joyce, daughter Cynthia and sister Jean at the Dedication of Sam's trees at Barona
I spoke to Sam's wife Joyce and sister Jean and they found 114 oaks left. They gladly agreed to gift them in memory of Sam. Sam's sister Jean speaking at Barona oak tree dedication. Sam's family gifted Barona 114 oaks in memory of Sam. I helped broker and get this setup. It was a real tear jerker.
The Barona tribe had the school kids come out of school and sign and be a part of the ceremonies that will become part of their heritage. We all got the tribal "Wanderers" blanket as a gift of appreciation from Chairman Clifford LaChappa.
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Sam's Victims Park Poway Rd and Hwy 15 This was the first "Victims Park" in the United States. Sam championed this park
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Current Projects
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My thinking is that, we know trail, bike lane and road improvements will require environmental mitigation. We are planning and "banking" oaks for mitigation ahead of any projects. In this way the Oaks are established and have a high probability of survival. Normally the oak survival rate is low without care. This person took the offensive on the San Vicente Road repairs that I pushed for the last three years. When the "Sierra Club" dissented to the mitigation report for the repairs:
1) I got the San Diego Country Estates, Holly Oaks and the "Well Field" park all in Ramona so the trees stayed here. Thanks to these entities for accepting the responsibility of "stewarding" the trees for the 5 years necessary to care for them by county requirements. We applaud your commitment and support.
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2) I made sure we got a 5-1 ratio of replacement from the county.
3) I called Shannon Davis of the Sierra Club who had written the letter to DPW and won her over as an ally after explaining what the road repairs were for and how we had taken the lead to win the support of the local environmentally oriented citizens. They have not given us a difficult time since. We applaud their support.
This is the "Right Way" to do this. It's a win for everyone.
I am currently working on: 30 oaks saplings started and grown by me for the last year were planted at Simon Park 1/25/2003 and will count towards the San Vicente Memorial Trail thru the Barnett Preserve that was recently acquired. See Ramona Trails page. I am just getting next years crop started in photo below. |
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Planting Oaks
My planting cage for starting the acorns and keeping the birds out.
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Start with collected oak acorns. I collect mine in November. I then air dry in a cake pan. I clean out any wormy ones as they dry and refrigerate in plastic bag. I put a paper towel or two in the bag to absorb moisture.
To germinate, place in a large plastic ziploc bag with some paper towel laid out in it. Cover the paper towel with acorns and add water so that the paper towel is soaking. Prop open plastic bag slightly. Keep moist until acorns germinate. Take a pot of soil mix (local preferred) and carefully place the acorn and cover with a small amount of soil.
Best pots are 4 to 8 inch diameter and 12-18 inches deep.
I had to place in a fenced enclosure to keep the birds from eating them ALL! |
Plant about 1/2 to 1 inch deep. Deeper the better. Sam used plastic sheet and ductape to make his own. You probably need some from of PVC shell to wrap and form the plastic and help fill it and then slip it out. Of course, that's if your doing a lot of them. Sam was doing thousands a year!
Don't forget drip water system to keep them moist, but not too much. The roots are sensitive to any standing water. I have very high drainage in this spot. Note the boards to shade the plants. I have very hot sun in the summer and that makes it tough to grow them here. My shade trees were all blown down 2nd week of January in one of our "Santa Ana" wind storms.
Wait a year and you can gift some too!
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Links
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