This is the third and final installment in a series by CARPC Senior Environmental Planner Matt Noone. Be sure to read the first and second installments if you haven’t yet!
Our Oldest Oaks: A Living Heritage
In 2022, I became aware of a historic inventory from 1976 of the largest and oldest trees in Madison. In Wisconsin, oaks tend to be the oldest trees by far, easily surpassing 200 years of age. The inventory was initiated by the renowned Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Famer Walter Scott. His project’s goal was to document and celebrate the 1976 bicentennial of America’s independence by identifying trees present on the landscape during our nation’s conception. All oak trees estimated to be 200 years or older (10-foot circumference for white oaks and 11-foot circumference for red oaks), within eight miles of the state’s Capitol were documented, measured, and mapped. The efforts were published in the Capital Times, requiring several reprintings due to popular demand. Twenty-five years later, in 2001, these same trees were revisited, documented, and measured by Professor Bruce Allison. In this second inventory of the heritage oaks, the trees’ spatial location coordinates were also recorded.
Given my Big Tree Hunter background and my role as the Chair of the Dane County Tree Board, I could see that it was my turn to conduct the next inventory. The baton had been passed, now nearly 50 years after the original inventory, and the process to re-inventory these ancient trees began again.
Equipped with satellite imagery, GPS tracking, camera phones, and computer mapping, I had many advantages with this third round of the heritage oak project that those before me did not. The time-consuming effort to relocate the trees, contact landowners, or sort through new developments and numerous road name changes was a thing of the past. Aerial photo mosaics were available each decade, dating back to 1937. With a click, the exact location coordinates of each tree could be seen on a phone. An additional advantage I had was a user-friendly, crowd-sourced web mapping application I created that allowed anyone interested in verifying if the trees were still on the landscape to remeasure, upload photographs, and tell their story. Previously unidentified heritage oaks could also be added to the map, and the focus area now expanded beyond the original eight miles from the Capitol to the entire county. Over 80 community members contributed to identifying over 400 of these heritage trees, all as part of the Heritage Oak Project led by CARPC.
I would be remiss to leave out that this project would most likely never have happened without the enthusiasm from my then 4-year-old son, Winston. The two of us spent the next few years measuring and mapping over 200 of these heritage oak trees. The opportunity to share my passion for forests and trees with my little boy throughout this project was a highlight for me. We discussed the different strategies that oaks have to persist in the landscape, and how all life forms develop niches to persist and replicate in this world. We visited many areas of Dane County we surely never would have otherwise. We learned how to measure trees properly, the difference between diameter and circumference, and how, with the magic number pi (π, or 3.14), you can convert back and forth between either measurement. I taught him the proper “Big Tree Hunter Pose” for a photograph, which I learned in my Oregon big tree hunting days. His delight in adding a new oak to the web map, verifying an existing oak in the inventory, or finding a new record-diameter tree was a continual inspiration for me to see this project through.
There were times when I worried I was overdoing this big tree hunt with Winston and that his interest might fade. But as time went on, I could see his determination to see the inventory through, and with that, my determination grew as well. We both found ways to raise the stakes with the project, providing further fuel to keep it going.
What began as an assessment of heritage oak trees around Madison that inspired countless people 50 years ago was now inspiring a new generation. The information compiled from these efforts has become a long-term study of observed growth rates of oak trees and quantification of their persistence in the landscape. A web of community involvement has been created to support the project and promote awareness of the benefits these trees provide us. Some measures are quantifiable while others are intangible. Through this project, countless collaborations have been established with researchers, K-12 schools, college students, nonprofits, arborists, and tree enthusiasts, resulting in a community involvement movement, all in an effort to protect and preserve the next generation’s legacy canopy.
From the finest and best oaks wise persons will secure acorns for planting – Walter Scott
By the end of 2024, the inventory of the oldest oaks in Dane County was completed. Our hard work on the Heritage Oak Project was over, meaning Winston’s and my weekly excursions and science lessons were also over. I hadn’t realized how monumental this experience would be for both of us as a learning and bonding experiment. I began wondering: What was next for us?
From Measuring Giants to Planting the Next Forest
Prior to our inventory’s completion, I became aware through connections with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) forestry staff that the DNR has their own nurseries where they grow trees from seeds of “natural origin” for reforestation purposes. “Natural origin” means that the seeds come from trees that have been on the landscape long enough to know that they were originally from Wisconsin and are locally adapted to the region’s climatic and soil conditions. This was it—exactly what I was looking for. Winston and I then raised the stakes and became seed collectors. The DNR is dependent on local seed collectors throughout the state for their nurseries. Once you gain a little experience in collecting, you can make a little money and learn a lot.
Oak trees have a significant mast (acorn crop) every 3–5 years. The trees can be synchronized in a region because they are all subject to the same predation and environmental changes. One of the most generally accepted theories is that an overabundant mast produced by all trees of one species at one time will overwhelm the predators that consume the seed, allowing some seeds to escape predation and become established. The year following a large mast year, few to no acorns will be produced, resulting in a predator population crash, preparing the oaks for the ideal environment for regeneration success with their next large acorn crop several years later, with a now-depleted predatory population.
We went all in on this acorn collection endeavor. We kept a bag-a-nut (seed-collecting machine), binoculars (to spot potential significant acorn crops), tarps, garbage cans, and a wagon in the car at all times. We were prepared to collect acorns from these heritage trees if nature so permitted.
It turns out collecting acorns, or seed in general, takes more skill and patience than one might assume. By now, I could say Winston and I were nearly expert acorn collectors. Despite our perceived success, the majority of the time when collecting, we returned empty-handed. But we learned which trees might have a decent mast worth collecting, and we knew there might only be one to two days to collect those acorns before they were eaten or stored away by birds, chipmunks, and squirrels. We knew how to clean the acorns and check them for viability, and how to protect them in our garage before they were transferred to the DNR nursery.
All in all, with unrelenting persistence, we collected over 50,000 acorns from the heritage oak trees we identified. Most of these acorns came from just five or six trees. These acorns were shipped off to be grown at the Wilson Nursery in Boscobel, WI, for eventual distribution throughout our region to support reforestation.
For the last two years, CARPC and the Dane County Tree Board have been distributing heritage oak saplings to nonprofits, municipalities, schools, homeowners’ associations, parks, and community members. The Tree Board’s mission is to provide leadership and guidance on county tree policy while promoting equitable and healthy tree canopy cover. Tree Board members, Winston, and I distributed trees at various Earth Day and Arbor Day events, which gave us the opportunity to further share our story. We have now given away over 1,000 heritage oak saplings, which have ended up in 23 different Wisconsin counties and over 12 states. As much as I would consider this success for our story, what happened next is what I consider my greatest achievement with this project and one of my proudest moments as a father.
The Day the Acorns Came to School
Soon after Winston started kindergarten at Schenk Elementary, I showed up to school to pick him up on our bikes as usual. As I stood waiting, Winston came out of the building with his classmates in their orderly lines. I could tell immediately there was something different from his demeanor. He high-fived the teacher, ran up to me attempting to knock me down, and then proudly told me, “Dada—you have to see this. You won’t believe this, but you have to see the acorns I found!” I was thrilled at the realization that Winston was looking at the world through the lens of a naturalist, forester, and ecologist. “Take me to the acorns!” I said.
As he brought me to the acorn mast he had found, I could see how proud of himself he was for being the one to locate it and for understanding the importance of why we do this in the first place: to make a difference. Sure enough, this was the largest acorn crop I had ever seen from a single tree. There were so many acorns from this single 200-year-old schoolyard tree that you could hardly see the pavement. It was an incredible moment for two big tree hunters turned seed collectors. We biked back home to ready the car with our collection equipment, with the addition of a large broom and snow shovels. No seed collector was needed here—we swept up the acorns, shoveled them into garbage cans, and reveled in our success and the money from the seed sale to the DNR Winston would be making from his discovery.
For me, this was a validation as a father. I had Winston fully understanding what we were doing, why we were doing it, the significance of trees, and the purpose of trying to make a difference in this world. It was time to raise the stakes again to meet the occasion. I contacted Schenk Elementary’s principal and asked her if she was interested in growing heritage oak progeny at her school from acorns collected from the playground, involving as many kids as possible throughout the process. The idea was to modify the project into part of a school curriculum and create educational events for the kids. She thought it was a wonderful idea, the appropriate approvals were achieved, and our first tree nursery was established.
Now we just needed to learn how to grow trees—something I had been doing most of my life, albeit with little success—and design a tree nursery. The nursery would provide necessary protection from the critters that want to carry away the acorns. The Dane County Tree Board provided the funds for the materials and construction of the tree nursery, and neighbors and Tree Board members assisted in its delivery to Schenk Elementary. Success was a must, as my reputation at Winston’s school was now on the line. Nervousness about the acorn planting at Schenk was overwhelming. This was a new endeavor for me, and there were many unknowns.
How many can we preserve for the Tricentennial in 2076? This would require a determined effort to keep them alive and well, along with a willingness to allow a place for them in an environment rapidly filling with asphalt and concrete developments. – Walter Scott
When it comes to growing trees, many mistakes were made and lessons were learned. Lessons are still being learned. By now, I can say that we’ve established a successful model and team to implement tree-growing educational curriculum in elementary, middle, or high schools. Instruction for acorn collection, tree propagation, watering, and tree maintenance is provided to interested schools, resulting in a system where the Tree Board can fund a school’s tree nursery and provide technical support as needed, while enabling the school to implement a successful tree-growing project independently. Even setbacks or failures can result in valuable learning experiences in plant biology and ecology.
The Tree Board has now established seven self-sufficient tree nurseries throughout Dane County: Schenk Elementary, Nuestro Mundo, Shabazz High School, Thoreau Elementary, and La Follette High School in Madison; Westside Elementary in Sun Prairie; and Severson Learning Center in the Village of Cambridge. Over 400 kids have been exposed to this program, and currently over 1,000 trees are being grown in school nurseries in our region. Winston has been part of each new nursery establishment, empowering him to be the teacher rather than the student and encouraging me to keep moving forward with the project. His favorite job is to be in the tree nursery accepting the potted trees from students and strategically placing them inside. My hope is that some of the students who participate in the project are able to look at the landscape around them with a naturalist’s lens and see how the little acorn they planted may one day also become a living artifact.
Where this program goes from here is unknown, but that is part of the fun. As the partnerships involved in the project grow, so do the opportunities for Dane County’s canopy. How will schools distribute the trees? Will they be sold for fundraisers? Given to interested families? Planted on school grounds? Will the project inspire one student—or many—to pursue environmental or forestry-related careers? Time will tell.
The takeaway here is to plant the acorn, expose our children to nature, nurture these little things in life, and let them grow. It’s the little things in life that collectively make the greatest difference and impact in this world. A single teacher, a friend, a neighbor, or maybe even a tree can change the trajectory of a child. Walter Scott planted the acorns for this project 50 years ago. Bruce Allison watered and cared for the trees, and countless others have since contributed to and influenced this effort, for which I am forever grateful. Our heritage oaks will only persist across our landscape as long as we provide them the respect and appreciation they deserve.
Acknowledgements
While it’s impossible to acknowledge everyone involved in the project, I would like to thank the students, teachers, principals, volunteers, DNR Urban Forestry staff, Tree Board members, concerned citizens, the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission staff, the State Cartographer’s Office, David Mladenoff, the Big Tree Hunters around the world, and—last but not least—my son, Winston.
