Always insightful, cogent comments, Cindy, thanks.  '...no more natural
than our dirty water..." was especially catchy.

Bill Witt



> I was happy to see the article on Iowa oaks.   Thank  you, Neila.
>
> I was a little surprised that there wasn't more discussion about  putting
> fire back into Iowa woodlands.  The absence of fire on Iowa's  landscape
> is no
> more "natural" than the absence of wind or water.    We've been conducting
> a
> gigantic experiment on Iowa's oak woodlands to see  how they do without
> fire,
> after having had regular  fires for thousands of years.   The results are
> turning out to be very bad for oaks and other native plants and  animals.
> So why
> are we continuing the experiment on such a broad  scale?
>
> Fortunately, there are some public land managers and private  landowners
> in
> Iowa who are restoring oak savannas and woodlands.  By  cutting brush and
> girdling the invasive trees that  wouldn't be growing in the woodland if
> fire
> hadn't been suppressed for  so long, and by restoring fire, mature oaks
> can be
> saved  from shade-killing and young oaks can be given places to grow.   In
> addition, disappearing oak-ecosystem plants and animals can  reappear.
>
> Healthy oak savannas and woodlands are gorgeous.  The downside is that
> after
> seeing what a healthy oak ecosystem looks like, it can  be painful to
> drive
> through Iowa and see so many oak  woodlands being strangled by cherries,
> elms,
> cedars, and  honeysuckles.   To many Iowans, those disintegrating oak
> woodlands look "natural."  But they are no more natural than  our dirty
> water.
>
> More public and private money is badly needed to help with such
> restoration.
>  One study indicates that many oak ecosystems  are on the brink of
> ecological
> collapse  and are losing plant species  every year.  Planting trees on
> cropland (for  which funding is available in Iowa) has value in its  own
> right.  But
> we also need to save our existing oak  heritage.
>
> ch
>
>
> Cindy  Hildebrand
> [log in to unmask]
> Ames, IA  50010
>
> "The heaviest  timber land can be purchased for from $5.00 to $12.00 per
> acre. There are black  and white walnut, basswood, different kinds of
> oaks, elms,
> etc....Of the  fertility of the soil -- it can't be excelled. The prairie
> is
> rolling, a most  magnificent sight." (Arden B. Holcomb describing Boone
> County,
> Iowa, in  1855.)
>
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