What is a Garry Oak

[Jumper]

Just reading a short bio on the oldest grad of my alma mater, who at 103 is still living in his boyhood home in Maple Bay, BC., (north of Victoria on the Island-wonderful pub there)the article mentions the house and property has been sold to the Nature Conservatory of Canada, courtesy of federal funding , as the land "contains one of the largest stands of Garry Oaks in Canada, a species of oak that is on the gravely endangered list". Can any of you west coasters explain what is special about a Garry Oak, aside from the fact it is rare in Canada (perhaps not so further south).

 

[Stumper]

Hmmmmm... I hope that someone else has a better answer. I have never heard of a Garry oak before. The Silktassel genus is named after Nicolas Garry of the Hudson Bay company. Elias' "Field Guide To North American Trees" does not show it further north than Oregon FWIW.

Of course I'm not a West coaster just a failing know-it-all.

 

[underwor]

This is also known as Oregon White Oak. Quercus Garryana. Here is a website about the ecosystems that are endangered.

http://www.goert.ca/educate/what.html

Hope this helps.

Bob

 

[Treeman14]

http://www.garryoak.bc.ca/

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/publctns/treebook/garryoak.htm

 

[Keener]

If you want federal funding or handouts from soft hearted folks just say whatever you are preserving is endangered.
We have an over abundance of tree huggers and people who think that now that they have a spot here on the island that no one else should be allowed to move in or change anything and heaven forbid you cut down anything to build a home.
The Arbutus which is the Madrona in the U.S. has suffered here as it is the extreme northern range for it so our tree hugger/ weird science friends now think thats endangered and needs protecting too.
I would guess from what I have seen that there are more Garry oaks than ever before on the island as they do well in cleared areas i.e farmers fields and meadows ect.
And yes I have cut many of both species, and yes I have refused to cut some as well.

 

[ORclimber]

Lots of native Oregon white oak here in the Willamette Valley. It's one of my favorites. Strong and slow growing, fun to climb and easy to make look good. They don't usually get the spread like the live oaks I've seen pictures of, but there are a few at the Oregon gardens with big limbs weaping to the ground. They aren't sought after for lumber like the softwoods around here, so the loggers mostly leave them alone. There are a few guys who trained in France making wine barrels out of them, since the pores are clogged unlike red oak. Now I want to go climb an oak

 

[underwor]

Here is image from our collection. Not perfect, but good for North Dakota and collected about 80 years ago.

Bob

http://165.234.175.12/photos/Angiosperms/Quercus_garryana_lf_twig.jpg