https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWHHOAf39UI watched this video and now I want to talk about it. Are oak tree forests really going to be fucked if we don't kill the other trees so oak saplings can have a fighting chance?
>>2792878Yes it is true. As he states in the video heavy deer browse, an increase of exotic pests, migration of pests due to our warming climate, and the absence of fire in the landscape is seriously hindering their regeneration. There is a forestry company I worked for in the NE that implemented tall "slash walls" post-harvest, and has a healthy pool of hunters to reduce deer populations in their forests. These methods are effective and they do get prolific oak regeneration in their woods.But hunters are decreasing as time goes on... and with no prolific natural predator to cull off deer populations here in the East, oaks are always going to struggle to regenerate without intensive management. There is hope though, people who manage forests here understand the problem, but again it is very labor intensive to ensure they successfully regenerate.
>>2792903>hunters are decreasing as time goes onMake it easier and cheaper to get out of state licenses. I have family in Indiana and Montana and would love to hunt there when I'm visiting if it wasn't stupid expensive.
>>2792878One of my favorite hunting spots in the piney woods of Texas I use this giant, probably 400 year old Live Oak tree as my guide when to turn east on a trail. Sure oak trees are not as common. But as long as forest agriculture keeps progressing, or even stays the same, I think most forest managers know to keep some oaks. I'm camped under a skinny but tall oak right in east Texas in a national forest.The supposed oldest oak tree in Texas is down by Port Arkansas.
>>2792878I normally hate youtubers but that dudes ai'te. I still watch him and I don't live anywhere near where he makes these.The issue I have with him is he dances around the real issues and is way to nice about it.Urban sprawl and logging is why the east coast forests are fucked. The urban sprawl reduces the grazing land of the deer populations and the loggers are idiots that lie about everything.>>2792903>Kill all the predators >reee why do we have so many deer reee>Logging has nothing to do with pests I swear!Loggers are cancer.
>>2793067>forest managersImagine believing these people care about forest health beyond extracting as much wealth as possible without outright killing it in less than 100 years.
>>2792878Here, oak is the most common tree in the woods by far. There are about 30 species or so. Especially in the bottomland. Water Oak, Live Oak, Post Oak, Laurel Oak, and S. Red Oak outcompete every other large hardwood numerically and it really isn't even close. Water Oak and Live Oak are particularly virile.
>>2793067I'm in the wiregrass. Oaks tend to like bottomland except for a few upland species like Scarlet Oak, Bluejack Oak, Blackjack Oak, etc etc.The bottomland trees don't need any help. Those are the areas of least commercial vakie so they dont get hit as hard. The oaks in general dont need any help. If I too a cleared out portion of ground 10 yards by 10 yards and just let it go, it's going to be 60% little Live Oaks and Water Oaks. What needs help is the longleaf pine. And people have been trying to replant it, the problem they are running into is that the genetics weaken when you plant the same identical tree over and over again (identical genetically).
>>2792878Oaks are rare prestige trees where I live, it's almost all pines and maples and beaches and the like (Eastern Ontario) but oaks are so beautiful.
>>2792878I am in the UK. A lot has been made of the English Oak in our old folktales and mythology, right back to the pre-Christian days. But since then I should imagine that the oaks have been outbred by ash trees and maples, as well as beeches. Those trees spread their saplings like wildfire, year after year, whereas the majestic oak is more selective. I have been to places where the acorns fall into long-stranded moss and sprout almost always, but those are very specific sub-environments and ones that dare I say are at odds with the requirements of the modern world.I noticed a while ago that oaks don't seem to fare well near civilisation in general, whereas the aforementioned species will grow anywhere like weeds.
>>2794773>>2794783See that's wild to me because I see it as the opposite, American Beech and Ash would be sort of a rare desirable hardwood whereas most oaks I don't think twice about because they are so common. I consider Water Oak sort of a trash tree they are so common. Now Live Oak is sort of king of the hardwoods imho but they aren't uncommon and although they are one of the most stunning trees I see so many of them I don't consider them that interesting. Just goes to show how location/region makes all the difference. Another interesting thing is that I see far more red oaks than white oaks here. Live and Laurel far outnumber red Oak varieties but I understand that in most places it is the opposite. I would be excited to see a Swamp Chestnut Oak or a White Oak, and most people would be excited to see a red Oak variety.
>>2794790Sorry I botched up that last bit... What I'm trying to say is that here, red oak varieties are far more numerous and I am more interested to find white oaks. Whereas I understand in many regions it is the opposite aka white oaks outnumber red oaks and red oaks are sort of rare.
Also I'll drop a few of my favorite oaks. Here is a big stud single stem Live Oak.
>>2794792Big multistem Live Oak.
>>2794794Big giant Laurel Oak
>>2794795Big mature Swamp Chestnut Oak
>>2794796Single stem Live Oak with spooky shape
>>2792878>Are oak tree forests really going to be fuckedwait until you learn about chestnut blight, gonna blow your mind"It killed an estimated four billion trees"
>>2794797Big old Post Oak
>>2794800Old gnarled live Oaks overhanging a little lane.
>>2794801Smaller single stem Live Oak with nice shape.
>>2794802Big old Live Oak with an interesting shape
>>2794803Big laurel oak in flooded bottom
>>2794798Don't get me started on that one... it really was the perfect tree.>>2794805Nice pics anon, oaks are majestic and beautiful.
>>2794958Thanks here's a few more. Mostly big Single Stem Live Oaks
>>2795325
>>2795326Big Southern Red Oak in a longleaf upland.
>>2795327Oak forest bordering up against a cotton field
>>2795328another big single stem Live Oak
>>2795329another
>>2795330another big single stem-ish
>>2795331Giant multistem Live Oak in its prime
>>2793174>The urban sprawl reduces the grazing land of the deer populations and the loggers are idiots that lie about everything.so you're saying without the excessive land area for urban sprawl there'd be more open areas like fields meadows for the deer to live in without wandering into forests and killing all the trees and undergrowth? i dont really know a whole lot about the white tailed deer but i know they're a pest in the current state of things but it's not their fault. i'm not sure about the ticks and lyme disease and how deers are the biggest spreaders but human meddling is to blame for that too for sure.
