Dave Vesely, one of LWC's board members, co-authored a guide to assist landowner's efforts to restore oak woodland habitat. LWC hosted a workshop for landowners interested in oak restoration in 2005, led by Brad Withrow-Robinson.

Oregon white oak savannas and woodlands are a very important piece of the ecological fabric of the Pacific Northwest. The Oregon white oak provides important habitat for more than 300 animal species in our region. These habitats, and the wildlife that depend on them, have diminished greatly from the past. Owners of land with oak habitat possess the opportunity to conserve this dwindling habitat. Federal, state and private assistance programs for oak restoration are currently available and can cover 75 to 100 percent of a landowner's costs for oak enhancement activities.

Landowners who are looking for ways to improve Oregon white oak woodlands, savannahs or prairies where they live now have a handy resource. Dave Veseley and Gabe Tucker, two oak experts, have teamed up to write “A Landowner’s Guide for Restoring and Managing Oregon White Oak Habitats.” This free, 65-page, full-color booklet was sponsored by several federal, state and private agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Department of Forestry and OSU Extension Service. The latest research on oak “communities,” the catch-phrase for oak woodlands, savannahs and prairies, provides practical information to anyone interested in learning more about oak. In addition to describing the tree’s history, biology and the environment in which it thrives, the book also describes the process by which landowners can launch their own oak conservation projects. With 99 percent of the oak habitats in private hands, this book is aimed at landowners who are looking at projects as small as a few trees and as large as entire forests.

Following are a few highlights of the book. The entire book is available online, or can be ordered from the Bureau of Land Management. To request a copy by mail: BLM Salem District Office, ATT: Hugh Snook, 1717 Fabry Rd, Salem, OR 97306. A 25-minute video to accompany the guide, titled “A Landowner's Video Guide for Restoring and Managing Oregon White Oak Habitats” is also available.

• 
  
• Savannahs, prairies and woodlands – What’s the difference? Basically, density determines the name of the community. Savannahs and prairies are dominated by native grasses with scattered, drought-resistant oaks. Oak woodlands are forests in which oak is the dominant species.
• 
  
• History – Oak communities have long been important to the Willamette Valley Native American tribes who depended on the acorns for food and the wood for tools. More important, however, were the nearly 50 other species of food plants found in the savannahs and wet prairies surrounding the oaks. When white settlers first arrived in the valley, they found the Kalapuyans burning the prairies around the fire-resistant oaks to make it easier to find and maintain the camas and tarweed, deer and elk. Oak savannahs began to disappear when burning stopped. Later, when oak woodlands were cut down and replaced by conifers, important habitats were lost.
• 
  
• Importance to farms – Sheep, horses and cattle naturally gravitate to shade and shelter, making oak savannahs a perfect place for livestock. There are other advantages to preserving oaks in pastureland, including their attraction to hunting hawks and owls, who keep the vole population in check. Oak environments also trap run-off from pastures, helping to keep water clean.
• 
  
• Environment – Oak trees are home to dozens of lichens, mosses, amphibian, insects and microorganisms that live only on the leaves, trunks and roots of oaks. But on a landscape scale, entire communities of plants and animals in oak savannahs and woodlands “are remarkably different than the intensively managed agricultural fields and conifer forests surrounding them,” Vesely wrote. Diversity in the environment can be preserved by halting the disappearance of oak communities in the Willamette Valley.
• 
  
• Life of the oak – The Oregon white oak -- also known as “Garry oak” for its scientific name, Quercus garryana -- ranges generally west of the Cascades from Vancouver Island, B.C., to Los Angeles, Calif. The tree is found on dry, rocky hillsides, in floodplains and in clay and loam soils. An oak begins as a seed or a sprout but does not begin producing acorns until it is about 20 years old. An oak can live 500 years, and under the best soil conditions, can reach 100 feet. Because they grow slowly and need sunlight, oaks are easily crowded out by conifers and other faster-growing hardwoods. Where once fire and other natural disasters assured the existence of oak woodlands and savannahs, today human help is needed to preserve them.
• 
  
• Goals and management of oak lands – Most of the book is a step-by-step guide to planning and seeing through oak conservation projects, beginning with the landowner’s situation and desires. With examples from people who have already begun projects, the book takes landowners through assessments, restoration planning, decision-making, management planning, on-the-ground tasks, logging practices, planting, tools, slash management methods, prescribed burning, replanting, seedling protection and monitoring.
• 
  
• Resources – The book and has handy list of resources names, links and websites valuable to landowners: plant and forestry equipment suppliers, technical advisers, grant and cost-share resources and additional information about Oregon white oak.
•