Published June 14, 2006 http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/NEWS03/606140372/1005&template=printart SIDEBAR: Why it's happening Oak trees are disappearing across Iowa due to multiple circumstances: 1. Oaks fall victim to diseases that cause conditions including "tatters" and "wilt." 2. Maples and basswoods are crowding out light for oaks to grow. 3. Deer eat saplings. Why it matters Oak wood feeds 50 Iowa sawmills and businesses that employ 10,000 to 15,000 Iowans. More than 70 species of animals eat acorns in Iowa. Iowa's oaks fade from landscape Deer, disease, other species hurt symbol By PERRY BEEMAN REGISTER STAFF WRITER Iowa's state tree, the oak, is hurting. Part of the problem is a group of diseases and conditions with names like oak wilt and oak tatters that cause damage residents should watch for, experts say. Much of the situation is just nature. Without the benefit of fires that kept species in balance before widespread farming and development, Iowa's landscape is heavy on shady maples and basswoods and increasingly light on hardy, acorn-producing oaks. Oaks need light - preferably from three directions - to grow. Without help, oaks could disappear from the state. At the current rate of loss, the trees would be gone in 150 years. "It would be sad to think that there may not be another generation of them," said Anita O'Gara, spokeswoman for the nonprofit Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, a preservation group whose logo is an oak tree outline inside an acorn. "You know what they say, 'The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today.' " This is an environmental issue - and an economic one. More than 70 species of animals eat acorns in Iowa. And the oak wood, a renewable resource, feeds 50 Iowa sawmills and businesses that employ 10,000 to 15,000 Iowans who make cabinets and other wood products. So the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is coming up with a new plan to encourage landowners to open areas in forests where oaks have a fighting chance, said state forester John Walkowiak. "If someone chooses to go for oak, we have a chance" of saving the species, Walkowiak said. "If they don't, we have no chance." Many oaks are dying of old age, having sprouted between the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Pierce - between 200 and 150 years ago. Some occasionally fall from unusual conditions such as "tatters" and "wilt" caused by fungi, pests, pesticides or frost. Acorns struggle to produce new oaks that might shade the future's children because shady trees such as hackberry, ironwood, maple and basswood like to take over the landscape. Iowa's abundant deer often eat oak seedlings. Left alone, Iowa's forests would wind up with a lot of shady soft trees that might succumb to storms - and not many hardwoods such as oak, the state tree since 1961. With little fire to clear areas where oaks might grow, foresters and landowners are left to do that work themselves, if the state tree is to survive. Iowa's forest actually is coming back, covering more acres now than in 1954 - 2.8 million versus 2.6 million. Oaks, though, are showing signs of trouble. Last year, a flyover survey found that 1,422 acres of Iowa's 933,000 acres of oak forest had oak wilt or other potentially fatal problems. Iowa has lost 7,175 acres of oaks a year since 1954. A variety of oak species - pin, white and bur, among others - are found in 46 percent of the state's forest land. About 90 percent of that land is privately owned. Federal aid through the Conservation Reserve Program and the work of Iowa State University and Department of Natural Resources have encouraged many people to act. Walkowiak and his staff are negotiating with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to offer bonuses to landowners for restoring or preserving forest land. The husband-and-wife forestry team of Rick and Linda Elbert of Ames bought 100 acres of woodland near Ogden several years ago and wanted to manage the forest. They took ISU's woodland manager course. They had 900 oak and walnut trees logged to clean things out and started replanting "to put back at least as many trees as we removed," said Rick Elbert, an Ames chiropractor. The couple planted 400 oaks and 200 walnuts in 2003. Every year since, he's been planting two to three acres with acorns he collects, with permission, from Ames parks and neighbors. "You look in the spring and you have these baby seedlings, and I feel like a proud father," Elbert said. Walkowiak, the state forester, said federal programs often fight for money, yet the number of forest owners in Iowa has risen to 138,000 from 55,000 in 1994. That means more people owning smaller chunks of the forest, which doubles as habitat for all kinds of animals and birds. And a prime spot for the state tree, which is struggling to stay on the landscape. ### - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp