Oak Harbor’s namesake trees are disappearing and a small group of concerned citizens wants to ensure Garry oaks are here for the future — and they need your help.

“We know from historic accounts there used to be trees along the bay,” said Laura Renninger, president of the Oak Harbor Garry Oak Society. “There were acres and acres that are no longer here.”

The group formed earlier this year, and they need volunteers, especially a treasurer and others who can help the group gain nonprofit status.

So far they’ve created a self-guided tree walk. The map is available at the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce. They’ve planted trees and pulled ivy off of mature oaks.

They have more planned, including an expanded website that will offer information as well as partnerships with local schools and the garden club.

They want to inventory all the remaining Garry oaks in town.

Saturday the group plans to plant acorns in pots.

If you’d like to join the group and help, email to Renninger at preservegar

ryoak@yahoo.com. The group’s website is http://ohgarryoaksociety.org.

Renninger, a registered nurse at Whidbey General Hospital, started the group after her son pointed out the poor state of a large tree choked with ivy in their neighborhood.

She grew up here and Garry oaks are tied to not only her sense of this community but her own memories. Her grandmother owned a home on S. E. Eighth Street — the road with the Garry oak in the center. Her father and his buddies used to have a treehouse in that tree years ago.

She used to get a penny for every acorn she picked out of her grandmother’s lawn — which she promptly spent at Masten’s Variety downtown.

Garry oaks are tough and drought resistant. But they grow slowly and the town lost many to development.

Garry oaks are the only oak species native to the Pacific Northwest, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication on Garry oaks. Native people maintained the prairie and oak savanna ecosystem for thousands of years with frequent burning. Oaks are among the few trees that can tolerate fire.

After the Northwest began to be settled in the 1800s, oaks were lost to development, agriculture and invasion of other species.

West of the Cascades, the Garry oak can’t compete for sunlight with taller, faster growing conifers such as Douglas fir.

They aren’t difficult to propagate but the rub is keeping critters from eating the acorns and lawn mowers from accidentally shredding the saplings, Renninger said.

The group plans to plant dozens of acorns in pots and care for them for two years until they’re ready for planting.