It seems as if we have a vendetta against hardwoods in general and oaks in particular. Centuries old oaks are cut down without a second thought to make way for the most inane reasons. They are harvested for posts and pallets and mine timbers here. The galls on the red oaks are overwhelming many, many trees large and small. Then there's the weather; wind, lightning, rain, lack of rain, etc.

It is such a shame. And these hardwoods will never be replaced. Here in southern Illinois we used to have so many large stands of hardwoods, that the early settlers called the small clearings among them, prairies. Now this area is starting to look like eastern Kansas.