Old growth

[Al_Smith]

Yes I'll keep it in mind .I know very little about actual forestry science except I recognize most of the trees .Since you mentioned it these peelers have very little root spread .After this fall when the acorns fall I'll gladly try to round up a box full and donate them .I'll never be around another 200 years to see how they turn out but if the Lord tarries somebody will be .
I might interject my daughter is very well connected with the state of Ohio forestry having served on the Ohio EPA for 12 years .As this progresses she might find the time to get interested in it .At the moment she's involved with Intel with that massive compound they are building in Ohio near Columbus .
 Emily Smith | People on The Move - Columbus Business First (bizjournals.com)

[samandothers]

Emily looks like she has done well for herself. Congratulations dad!

[Al_Smith]

I won't go into details but she has done well considering she became a single mother at a young age .It happens but she made the best of it in spite of that .When she graduated from HS she already had 2 years of full load  college  leading to a 5 year degree in environmental communications  .Then another year and a half later to a double masters degree plus a para legal .Along that long  road working for two large banks plus being director of show activities for the Cleveland Cavaliers .She's got a lot of her mother in her but a lot more of  me . ;D.Yep she's my baby .BTW in working her way through college she operated a  5 axle dump truck ,I taught her how to shoot grade with a bull dozer ,run a chainsaw and how to shear a sheep among other things .5 feet tall and 115 pounds, dynamite in a small package .

[ID4ster]

The thing to remember about white oak acorns is that they germinate in the fall which means that they'll have to be collected promptly and given to a nursery for stratification and germination right away. You, and none of the rest of us, will see those seedlings when they are 200 years old, but you will see the form and self-pruning aspects of them by the time that they're 5 - 10 feet tall. If the trees are genetically superior, as I suspect, they'll begin to show those qualities at a young age and size and that should be well within your lifetime. 

If you desire to see seedlings grown from acorns from those trees you should begin making arrangements with a nursey(s) in the area now to begin growing the seedlings this fall or as soon as there is an adequate mast crop.

[SwampDonkey]

Congrats with your daughter's success Al.

Now grow some new white oaks.

[Al_Smith]

I've been reading up on sprouting oaks it's interesting and  they brought out the reason you don't see many saplings is because of the overstory .Thick canopy the sun can't reach the ground very well .  I noticed that on the  die off of the ash .When the large ones where gone a zillion little saplings came up .I think I have 4 types  of oak ,pin ,red ,burr and white .I cannot imagine what this country looked like during the war of 1812 .On the other hand they claim  there are more deer these days than in pioneer days .Perhaps those corn fields as far as the eye can see have something to do with it. 
 

[Yoder409]

Great purchase !!!   And glad you are able to leave it preserved as-is.

I'm all about timber being a renewable resource and not about people losing $$ as past-mature timber rots and falls.  But it's great to see and/or stand among old growth and just take it all in.

About 25 - 30 minutes from me there is a stand of virgin, PA hemlock forest.  It's just, maybe 20 acres.  But the road goes right through it.  It is an AWESOME place !!!!   It's been one of my favorite places to see since I was a little kid.  I'd hate to see it ever go.   

[barbender]

One tract near our place is known as "The Lost Forty". It is a stand of virgin red and white pine that was left during the pioneer logging of the area. The official story is that the surveyors made a mistake and had it plotted as a lake. That doesn't really make sense to me, as most timber was sold by sections back in those days and I can't see the loggers skipping that tract of wood because the plat said it was water. At any rate, it was left, and it is a beautiful and majestic place. It actually covers more than 40 acres, I think nearly 120 if memory serves. Some of the pine is 5'+ diameter, I don't know how tall. It is definitely worth the visit if anyone is ever in the area. Even as a logger, if they decided to cut it down I'd go chain myself to one of those big pines😁

 Itasca State Park south of Bemidji, which is the headwaters of the Mississippi River, also has many stands of virgin pine and is an excellent place to visit.

[Al_Smith]

My aunt and uncle (RIP ) in Knox county Ohio have a patch of timber that has never been logged .I forgot just the timber lands  alone but I think is around 800 acres .Around 180 acres, uncut  of that goes back to revolutionary  war land grants .How much farm land they own I have no idea--a lot . About every couple years she sells off some timber, oak, cherry, walnut .Whatever they are looking for at the time .It's all selectively cut and if you walked around you'd never think it had been logged after a few years . One thing a timber cruiser needs to know is she is not dummy and her son, my cousin is an attorney .Don't try to flim flam aunt Jake .

[barbender]

Al, that is funny. I have friends that are part of a family that are just plain, farmer/logger type of folk. They had an issue once where an insurance agent did not have the worker's comp policy in place that he told them he did. They had someone get seriously injured on the job, and all of the sudden their insurance wasn't going to cover it. Well, what the insurance company didn't know is that these plain folks had a nephew that is a high powered attorney from the city, it's amazing how quickly things changed when he started handling the phone calls for them😁

[Al_Smith]

Insurance companies take notice when a barrister gets involved .I will tell another story about uncle Chuck .He sold 100 white oaks to some scoundrel for $500 a pop and they cut 120 .Early  in the spring with two trucks loaded up that had to go out in morning when the ground was still frozen old Unc had a combine and big Farmall tractor blocking the road .Last load out .The guy threatened to call the sheriff .My unc said I'll save you some time. He's in my kitchen drinking coffee with my wife .Those 20 pirated trees cost him a grand each .Don't fool with uncle Chuck 8).BTW I cut on those oak tops for a couple of years for firewood .Good stuff .