An exciting article by Rose Rankin, recently published in the Northwest Quarterly, Return of the Oaks eloquently describes the efforts being made to save the “majestic but disappearing trees”.Northwest Herald- 7/18/08- Grant to preserve oak trees:
WOODSTOCK – In the 1830s, about one-third of McHenry County was oak-hickory woodlands. Today, they cover less than 5 percent of the land.More on Project Quercus
If nothing is done to protect or regenerate the oaks that are left, they could be gone in 20 years, environmental experts said.
“A big problem in the county with our remaining oak woodlands is that a lot of them are on private landowners’ land, and the landowners will mow underneath all the oak trees,” said land protection specialist Linda Balek of The Land Conservancy of McHenry County. As a result, oak seedlings are mowed down before they have a chance to grow.
The Land Conservancy is leading a project to address the local oak decline by planting new trees, raising awareness about the need to take care of existing oaks, and gathering data about local oak trees.
Project Quercus – “quercus” is Latin for oak – began two years ago this month.
In that time, area children have planted, adopted, and named more than 200 small oaks at sites around the county and pledged to water them for two years, Balek said.
The National Environmental Education Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant Friday to The Land Conservancy to help pay for equipment associated with planting baby oak trees on Sept. 27 in Woodstock’s Emricson Park for National Public Lands Day.... MORE
Lisa Haderlein of The Land Conservancy gave this presentation on Project Quercus at the Natural Landscaping Seminar held at McHenry County College in February.
See the video online here
or watch for 'Project Quercus: The Third Generation Oaks'
Airing March 17th 8:30pm on GreenScreen (Comcast Public Access Channel 17)
February 4, 2008
The Chicago Tribune came out recently to our sister company Glacier Oaks Nursery to interview Joe and Mary about Project Quercus. The article ran today in the Tribune:
McHenry County coalition works to return oaks to full splendor
In McHenry County, coalition taking steps to restore shrinking forests
By Carolyn Starks- Tribune staff reporter
"The oak saplings at Glacier Oaks Nursery in Harvard are bundled like children in a snowstorm inside warm tunnels that will help them thrive until spring. They may look fragile, but their spindly branches carry a heavy burden.12/29/07
Conservationists are counting on these baby trees as a small step in helping assure that mighty oak forests remain rooted in McHenry County..."
The following is a breakdown of oak forest coverage in McHenry County by the year.12/17/07
1838: 143,000 acres.
1872: 72,000 acres.
1939: 26,350 acres.
2005: 18,000 acres.
"When 17th century French explorers first arrived in the area northwest of present-day Chicago, they marveled at the region's vast oak groves, writing that it was as if a higher power planted each tree individually to maximize their beauty.
Hundreds of years later, the beauty of those groves remains in what is now McHenry County, but ecologists fear that may not be the case for much longer.
With the increasing pressures of development, poor management and sparse efforts to replace dying trees, the number of oaks has fallen precipitously, down to just over 10 percent of what it was when European settlers arrived in the 1830s.
Fearing it may be now or never for McHenry County's oaks, a group of governments, environmental groups and arborists are banding together to save what's left.
"Not only have we cut down a lot of trees for construction, but a lot of what's left out there is sick and dying," said Lisa Haderlein, executive director of the Land Conservancy of McHenry County. "People are going to have to intervene to change the situation."
That was the philosophy behind the Land Conservancy creating Project Quercus (Latin for oak), a joint effort of nurseries, villages, state and federal agencies and tree-related businesses to save McHenry County's remaining oak groves."
