The mighty oak is vanishing from our forests.

Researchers, mindful of the disappearance of the American
chestnut tree in the mid 20th-century, are anxiously trying to
discover why the oak is disappearing – and make it stop.

Only a few years ago, the northern red oak was the most common
tree in Pennsylvania. Now, it’s tenth, and has been supplanted as
the leader by the red maple.

Researchers worry that this shift could have a profound
influence not only on the health of the forest but on the health of
the region’s economy.

And so, efforts have been stepped up to pinpoint the cause of
the crisis and eliminate it but that, in itself has spawned its own
whirlwind of controversy among sportsmen, timber companies,
foresters, environmental interests, and others, about the most
effective way to bring back the oak.

In May, Jim Finley, professor of forest resources at Penn State
University, said in a press release that he believes decades of
deer browsing has definitely played a role in the lack of oak
regeneration in forests throughout the state.

“I don’t think deer overpopulation is the sole reason, but it
certainly contributes greatly,” he said in the release. “We’ve
found if we put up fences, we can affect the shift. We believe if
you take the deer numbers down, oaks and other valuable trees will
begin to come back.”

Finley explained in the release that the inventory conducted by
the U.S. Forest Service in Pennsylvania is showing a species shift
from northern red oak, which had been the most common species, to
other species that are less valuable both commercially and
ecologically. Red oak was number one – now it is 10th and red maple
is first. Black birch used to be the sixth most common species; now
it is second. Black cherry is now number three.

“What is important is that neither maple nor birch nor cherry
are preferred browse by deer,” Finley added.

Mary Hosmer, public affairs specialist at the Allegheny National
Forest, provided information on what deer prefer to eat including
red, white, and chestnut oaks, red and sugar maples, white ash,
white pine hemlocks, yellow birch, and pin cherry. She added they
also tend to browse on aspen, and yellow and white poplar.

“At the bottom of the list is striped maple, beech, mountain
laurel, fern, black locust, golden rod, asters and spruces,” she
added.

Hosmer was also quick to add that trees are not the only item
deer like to eat.

“They like Canada yew (a shrub) – which is just about gone,” she
said, naming others such as wild grapes, dogwoods, and the
hobblebush bush.

She also said that they eat wildflowers including trillium,
trout lilies, teaberry, indian cucumber and gold thread among
others.

“It’s not the case we fence to create a black cherry forest – it
is a low preference for them,” she said. “It (a deer) will take all
else that’s around oak seedlings and what’s left is black cherry
and beech which are lower food preference for deer.

“They would starve on a belly full of fern, it holds no
nutrition for them. It’s hard to regenerate and get back some of
the oaks and white pine hemlock,” added Hosmer.

Jerry Feaser, press secretary of the Pennsylvania Game
Commission, said they have been trying to get the deer population
to a point that regeneration would be easier to get under way.

“We have been looking at that for a number of years. That is
what we have authority over,” he said. “We have to look at
(fencing) to evaluate that – to incorporate it.”

He said in McKean County, the game commission has a total of
24,979 acres and many of them within the county actually have very
little oak within them.

Frank Chubon, forester for the game commission, said the game
commission does fence for deer in some areas.

“Most of the timber (in those areas) have black cherry and maple
seems to generate quite well,” he added. “We are willing to try a
little bit of anything for regeneration of forestry.”

Another item of interest for Pennsylvania forest and farm owners
is the fact that the game commission offers them the ability to get
extra coupons per 50 acres to allow hunters to come on their
property and hunt antlerless deer.

It is called the Deer Management Assistance Program.

Feaser said it enables property owners to focus hunting on a
specific piece of property. There are three companies who have land
in McKean County that have those coupons available including Kane
Hardwood, a division of Collins Pine, Seanor Timber Company of
Warren, and Headwaters Investments Corp. Forest Investment
Association out of Smethport.

“The decline of oak in our forests is a big story,” says Marc
Abrams, a professor of forest ecology and physiology who has been
honored several times in recent years for outstanding research on
systematic change in Eastern forests. “The change actually started
in the early 1900s when forest fires first were suppressed,” he
adds in a press release from March of 2003.

Abrams has tracked a trend over the last century when red maple,
a tree species that originated in swampy habitats, started taking
over eastern forests.

“Originally, because of its sensitivity to fire, red maple was
relegated to the swamps,” explained Abrams in the release. “In
fact, it used to be called swamp maple. But now that we suppress
forest fires, red maple has emerged from the swamps and taken over
upland sites, and can be found on just about every landscape in the
eastern deciduous forest. This change in our forests may have
profound economic and ecological consequences.

“Forest regeneration is a huge concern,” adds Abrams. “Trees
that historically dominated this region – the pines, oaks, hemlocks
and hickories – no longer regenerate very well. Red maple is
replacing trees that have high economic value. Its soft wood, color
and grain aren’t as highly valued as that of black cherry and oak.
Also, many wildlife species depend on the trees that are being
replaced.”