Granite State Times

#DYK it's #NationalSquirrelAppreciationDay? (Ironic timing when we're all battling squirrels at our birdfeeders!) 

Let's celebrate by looking back at one of our most popular Forest Journal columns ever, called "Watch Out for Falling Squirrels." 

After seeing a squirrel fall from a treetop into snow and emerge unscathed, Brenda Charpentier wrote: "Given how amazingly strong, agile and death-defying squirrels are, I think it’s strange that the word 'common' is so commonly used to describe them. Someone may ask the woods walker, 'Did you see any wildlife?' and it wouldn’t be uncommon for the response to be, 'Not much – just some squirrels.'

"But squirrels are critical to a healthy forest ecosystem, and not just because so many other animals eat them. Squirrels are 'scatterhoarders,' meaning they hoard nuts and seeds for later by burying them all over the place. We all know that, right? 

You may also know that the seeds they never find again are basically planted and so the squirrels are little tree farmers. But did you know that all those squirrels digging all those little holes in the forest floor are actually mixing and spreading microbes that make healthy soil?

In nature, there’s no such thing as common; it’s all inter-connectedly cool and miraculous."

Read the full story: https://forestsociety.org/for.../watch-out-falling-squirrels