Q: This question comes from Tom in Agoura. He wrote, “I have three camphor trees in my rear yard, and one of them has started to bear black berries in very large quantities.

“To compound the problem, the tree has attracted squirrels that are systematically stripping it of most of its vegetation in order to get to the berries. What do you recommend doing?”

A: When it comes to squirrels, you either love them or hate them. But regardless of how you feel about them, barring a plague, they’re here to stay.

My crew and I have been working with trees in the Conejo Valley since 1974, and I remember when it was rare to see even one tree squirrel in a single day. Now tree squirrels can be seen every day in every neighborhood anywhere there are trees and a food source.

In the December breeding seasons I’ve seen as many as 10 squirrels at a time in my backyard. They seem to be most active from dawn until early afternoon, running across my roof and along phone lines and jumping from tree to tree.

I’ve been told, and the pictures on the Internet seem to concur, the tree squirrels that inhabit our valley are fox squirrels. These are not to be confused with California ground squirrels that seem to have been around forever, digging holes and burrowing under oak trees, sidewalks and streets. You will see tree squirrels foraging on the ground in a method similar to that of ground squirrels, but as soon as they’re alarmed, they scamper up a tree for safety rather than heading for a hole.

I’ve been observing the eating habits of the local fox squirrels for decades now and have concluded they prefer eating nuts over just about anything else. Their favorite natural foods are pine nuts, especially from Aleppo pines, acorns from oak trees and walnuts. Your poor camphor tree may have become the victim of aggressive feeding behavior because it’s producing forage that’s easier for squirrels to find and get to than any other food sources in the area.

I have two camphor trees in my backyard that produce thousands of small black fruit every year, but the squirrels just ignore them. What may be different at my home is the type of food that’s available to the squirrels. I have two Aleppo pine trees in my backyard, and the ground under them is littered with ripped-apart pine cones. Because tree squirrels tear cones apart to get to the nuts near their center, I know they are feeding in the pine trees.

I also have mounted on a patio support post a squirrel feeder that I keep full of peanuts. The feeder is visible from our living room window and provides hours of entertainment. The regulars come in like clockwork, two or three an hour. They jump up on the feeder, eat peanuts for five minutes or so, then leave.

The squirrels that are the most fun to watch are the new guys who don’t know how the feeder opens and have to figure it out. They do some pretty silly things.

I would suggest you learn to live with the little critters and buy a feeder. I think fox squirrels like peanuts more than camphor fruit, because at my house those little pigs are going through a pound of peanuts a week and aren’t tearing up my camphor trees.

Hopefully, providing the tree squirrels in your yard with a dependable alternate food source will help you with your dilemma. At the very least it will give you some great entertainment.

And by the way, purchase lots of peanuts, because over here my squirrels are eating me out of house and home.

David D. Mortimer is a certified arborist with more than 30 years’ experience in the tree care industry. E-mail questions to dmortimer@theacorn.com.