White Oak in Ohio: A State-Level Look

Like many states, Ohio is serious about its forests. Back in 2008, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry joined with the USDA Forest Service and the NRCS to create the Ohio Interagency Forestry Team, which is dedicated to the concept of shared stewardship and a goal of enhancing resilience in the state’s forests.

But very few of the state’s forests are state forests ... or national forests, either. About 86% of Ohio’s woodlands are privately owned, with 72% controlled by family forest owners. According to Cotton Randall, the cooperative forest management administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry, these forests drive about $26 billion in annual economic activity. “Oak-dominated forests are definitely Ohio’s dominant forest type,” Randall says, adding, “For veneer and cooperages, white oak is economically huge in Ohio, to say nothing of its ecological, aesthetic, and emotional value.”

“By connecting forest owners with the EQIP program through NRCS, we’ve helped landowners to get funding for thinning and crop tree release to make sure oak is part of future forests.”
— Cotton Randall

The Ohio Interagency Forestry Team has been doing collaborative oak management for longer than the White Oak Initiative has been around, and it has core projects around the state to show for it. Randall explains, “By connecting forest owners with the EQIP program through NRCS, we’ve helped landowners to get funding for thinning and crop tree release to make sure oak is part of future forests. We’re doing this work on federal and private lands alike, including a prescribed burn in Wayne National Forest.”

Randall’s involvement in the local Forestry Team has highlighted the power of collaboration. “There’s such a patchwork of ownership here, you can’t have a shotgun approach. You need collaboration.” This is why Randall is so excited about the White Oak Initiative. “There’s a lot of potential from a 17-state initiative,” he says, adding, “Having such a wide and measurable impact allows us to think about common data to collect, common terminology ... we can all share our challenges, mistakes and breakthroughs. And it helps get a wider message across that you can’t take white oak for granted.”