THE RED OAK
Field Notes
~ by Jim Eagleman
“ An oak tree spends 300 years growing, 300 years living, and 300 years dying.”— traditional proverb
I
felt a tinge of regret as I fed the red oak logs into the log splitter. This big tree grew tall and straight. The exposed wood showed the straightest grain of any oak you would ever want— for flooring, furniture, or woodworking.
I had other plans. Its main trunk would yield stove length logs. I keep this length in mind each time I use the chainsaw, and attempt to cut the wood in equal sizes. The work is easier if logs are all the same length, for stacking, carrying, and loading into the stove.
My brother-in-law, a woodworker who lives north of Chicago, learned of my intended use of this magnificent tree. He yelled into my phone,“ You gotta be kidding! You buzzed it up for firewood?” He typically doesn’ t see this straight-grained growth in the discarded pieces he scavenges. Oaks of this caliber are rare. Those of similar size are usually found in the Cook and Lake County forest preserves, characteristic of the savannahs of northern Illinois. He wanted to come the next day with his large trailer to cart the logs back to his home.
Doug Tallamy, author of the book The Nature of Oaks, the rich ecology of our most essential native trees, says of the oaks,“ They are, in general, long-lived trees, and members of the red oak group can easily live many hundreds of years if their roots are given free reign
and not impeded by sewer lines, basements, and parking lots. A single oak tree will drop up to three million acorns over its long lifetime, and will serve as a lifeline for countless creatures including dozens of birds, rodents, bears, raccoons, opossums, rat snakes, fence lizards, and a group we don’ t consider: several butterflies, hundreds of moths, gall wasps, weevils, and dozens more species of arthropods, mollusks, and annelid worms that depend on oak leaf litter for nourishment and protection.”
The red oak, scientific name Quercus rubra, is a Brown County tree I want to know more about.
Unfortunately, the diverse web of life associated with oaks goes unnoticed and mostly unappreciated by many homeowners, and even some biologists I know. In fact, many homeowners cut down their oaks because they have grown tired of the mast crop and raking leaves.
My oak was destined for removal, not because of leaves or an occasional broken branch, but because of its close proximity to a building. A tree company I hired last summer to remove dangerous limbs hanging over the roof, looked at the oak, and without hesitation, said,“ That oak is a threat, Jim. Think of the damage it could do if it fell on that structure.”
64 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2026