Oak trees once dominated the forests of Kane County, providing invaluable benefits to ecosystems, watersheds, air quality and overall environmental and human health.

Oak woodland data show a decline in oak populations over the last 75 years and oaks are having a difficult time regenerating due to urban development and competition from more shade tolerant plants.

The Kane County Forest Preserve District is doing its part, along with a score of volunteers, planting more than 600 oak trees in the Johnson’s Mound Forest Preserve in September.

Although the number of oak trees has declined, there are still beautiful oak stands found throughout Kane County — as illustrated in the Kane County Remnant Oak Woodlands Map at the bottom of this article.

Kane County is presently working with Chicago Wilderness and the Morton Arboretum to collect data that will inform a detailed tree inventory, and the county needs your help in locating local trees. The inventories may have been done by municipal foresters, public works departments, township highway departments or interested organizations.

If you can locate any local or regional tree inventories which examined public, private or natural areas for tree species, size or age distribution, please contact Kane County Executive Planner Karen Miller at millerkaren@co.kane.il.us with the information.

These inventories will add detail to the work that has already been done by the U.S. Forest Service in the completed Urban Trees & Forests of the Chicago Region report.

SOURCE: Quality of Kane newsletter