Maria Reyes Alejano, University of Huelva, Spain: Acorn Counting in Europe?
A professor of Agroforestry Sciences, Maria is studying the production of acorns in the dehesas (oak savannas) of Spain. Walt Koenig, at Hastings, is one of the very few people in the world who is also studying acorn production. So, Maria sought out Walt and Hastings to compare what she has learned in Spain to the oak woodlands here. Maria and her family spent a week in the Hastings Cabin in late October. In Spain, people manage the Iberian Oak, Quecus ilex intensively, and the tradition is that severe pruning of the oaks means more acorns, which are fed to pigs, at least in the Huelva area (where by the way, Christopher Colon aka "Columbus" sailed from). Maria's research team is conducting various levels of pruning and counting acorns under the trees to test the tradition. It appears that pruning has no effect on acorns, except that extreme pruning means fewer acorns because the trees have hardly any branches left. Maria visited other researchers at UC Berkeley and gave a great seminar to the Hastings residents.

Walt Koenig and Jean Knops conducted the 2007 California Acorn Count; you can read the typically irreverent report here.