Billy and the Pine Tree

             By: Ashley Backus, Katrina Young, and Maegan                         Mercier

It was a crisp fall morning at Billy’s house. Billy and his dad decided to go to the backyard to play catch. To Billy’s dad's surprise there were dead pine needles all over the ground covering his flower garden. 

“These pine trees are creating a big mess and causing all of the flowers in the garden to die!” said Billy's dad. 

"What can we do to keep this from happening?" asked Billy.

“We will just cut down the pine tree so we will not have any more pine needles covering our backyard!" said his dad, "Wait right here, I am going to go inside to get tools so we can cut it down!” 

While Billy and his dad were talking, Chip overheard them. Chip was a fox squirrel who lived in the pine tree that Billy’s dad was about to cut down! 

“Oh no, if they cut down this tree I will have nowhere to live and neither will my friends! I have to do something to stop this, but what?” Chip began to think of how he could stop the tree from being cut down. Suddenly he had an idea! He would go to Billy and try and stop him and his dad from cutting down the tree! 

Chip ran over to Billy as quickly as he could. “Billy! Billy! Billy!” Chip shouted!

Billy looked down and saw Chip! “You cannot cut down this tree, it is my home!”

Billy paused for a moment, “Your home? It’s just one tree, you can find a new tree to make your home.” 

"It is not just my home, it is home to many other animals, too!” Chip said to Billy in hopes that he could convince him to save the tree. “Different animals depend on this tree to survive, it’s their habitat.” Billy looked around and replied,  “I don’t see any other animals." “Follow me Billy, I’ll introduce you to some of my friends who live here, too!”

“There are three other Fox Squirrels, just like me, that live in this tree. Fox squirrels use the pine cones from the Loblolly tree for food. There are three Gray Squirrels that live here too!" Chip explained to Billy. “

So this tree is just a habitat for squirrels?” Billy asked.

“No!” Chip exclaimed. “There are different animals that live here too! I’m going to take you to meet some more animals who depend on this tree. There also birds, deer, and even butterflies!"

"Song birds feed on the seeds and spread the seeds to help new trees grow. Song birds also use Loblollies for their homes." Chip told Billy. 

"White tail deer rely on Loblollies, too. They use the seeds for a year round source of protein." Explained Chip and he pointed out the deer.

“Wow, a lot of animals really do rely on this tree. Let’s count them all together to see the exact number of animals that are here now," Billy said eagerly.