Managing Oak Forests in the Eastern United States

Patrick D. Keyser, Todd Fearer, Craig A. Harper, Patrick D. Keyser, Todd Fearer, Craig A. Harper

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781498742870
• eBook ISBN: 9781498782623
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

If you are responsible for oak management, Managing Oak Forests in the Eastern United States is for you. It is the definitive practical guide for anyone interested in improving stewardship of eastern oak forests. Organized into three sections, the first section, "Background and Biology: Setting the Stage, " helps you establish a solid understanding

Section one

Background and biology: Setting the stage

Chapter one

The mighty oak

Why do we manage oaks?

Bryan Burhans, Patrick D. Keyser, Craig A. Harper, and Todd Fearer

Although the authors of this chapter grew up in different states at different times, all four of us took for granted the oak trees that surrounded us. As bowhunters, we looked to each fall’s mast crop to guide our hunting strategies. We cherish our vivid recollections of early fall days scouring the woods for oaks producing abundant acorns and searching for the best place to hang a deer stand.

Regardless of your background, it is easy to find something exhilarating, enchanting, and satisfying about our oak forests, whether it is cutting firewood, hunting, or simply enjoying their timeless beauty. Years as students, managers, researchers, educators, and leaders in conservation of this great natural resource have added to our perspective. These oak forests are one of the largest and most diverse temperate forest ecosystems on the planet. Scores of species of wildlife call it home. Hunting within them puts millions of pounds of lean, wholesome venison on tables across the country; it also supports a vast recreational economy. And timber harvest provides countless jobs and revenue for our country.

While the lush, canopied forests that blanket the landscape of the Eastern United States—from Southern Wisconsin and New England to Northern Georgia and Central Arkansas—seem enduring, that is not the case. Many of the forces that helped shape today’s oak forests have changed, perhaps permanently. Fires are rare and many large herbivores are gone. Deer are at record-setting densities and their natural enemies, the wolf and the mountain lion, no longer keep them in balance with forested habitat. In places, this imbalance is wreaking havoc on the understory vegetation.

Recent data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) project clearly illustrate the dramatic changes that have occurred in our forests and what that portends for the future. These FIA data show that the volume of oaks in the 5.0- to 6.9-inch stem diameter class decreased by more than 35% between 1987 and 2007. These oak saplings are needed to replace the aging oaks in the overstory. Unless something changes, other hardwood species that dominate the understory, such as maples, will eventually replace the oaks when they die or are harvested.

It is important to understand that oaks across much of the Eastern United States do not form the climax state of the forest, but rather they are mid-successional species. In the absence of disturbance, such as a timber harvest or fire, these forests will naturally transition into ones dominated by late-successional species. In Connecticut, for example, the conversion from oak t...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Contributors
• Editors
• Section one - Background and biology: Setting the stage
• Section two - Silviculture: What is in the tool box?
• Section three - Managing oaks: How do I make it work for me?