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