GLC Oak Recovery Program begins

The Conservancy program is part of the Morton Arboretum/Chicago Wilderness Oak Ecosystem Recovery Plan.   As part of the plan, an oak mapping of Walworth County was recently completed, which shows both the original oak forests and remnants of these forests that are still present today.   The study determined that less than 17 percent of Walworth County’s original oak forests and savannas remain.

More than 500 species depend on oak trees for their existence, according to Ed Collins, Director of Land Preservation & Natural Resources for the McHenry County Conservation District, who spoke at the Conservancy’s April 20 Earth Day luncheon.

“If there is a single lesson that can be drawn from the oak study, it is that even the smallest grove of oaks matter,” said Collins.

Scientific information like the oak study provide the statistical data necessary to identify many of the issues facing the remaining oak groves in our region, according to Collins.

Oak trees define landscape

“What it cannot do is quantify the importance and meaning that these trees have played and continue to play in the lives of the county’s citizens,” Collins said.   “We are the people of the oaks . . .they are a daily feature in our lives.”

This fall, the Conservancy is holding its first native oak tree sale to begin repopulating the county’s oak trees.   All the trees are sourced from a nearby nursery, which grows oaks from local acorns, ensuring the best saplings for growth in Walworth County.