PNW Native
Bark is light grey and deeply furrowed, leaves are 3-6 in, pinnately-lobed. Tree grows up to 75 ft tall. Male and female catkins grow on the same tree, either in pairs in leaf-axils or single. Seeds are acorns, ¾-1½ in. Ranges from S coastal BC to S coastal CA. (2)
Garry Oak prefers rocky soil that drains well and has open exposure, and it thrives in the relatively drier environments of the Puget-Willamette Trough. (Mathews, 2021) Acorns are ubiquitously predated, cached, or infected by insects despite their inconsistent production. Various animals aid in acorn dispersal such as: Douglas squirrels, Western grey squirrels, Steller's jays, Blue jays, and Lewis’s woodpeckers. Birds typically transported acorns further than squirrels, and seeds were often consumed after transport. Often, seeds were dropped by birds into forests dominated with conifers, Garry oak, or Western juniper. (1) Oak galls are formed when wasps infect the bark of the oak tree. (3)
Conservation of the Garry Oak is crucial due to its current endangered status. Garry Oak savannas, which used to be much more common in the drier parts of the region, are being lost due to habitat destruction, invasive species introduction, agricultural usage, and fire suppression by European settlers. (1)
Controlled burning by indigenous tribes such as the Kalapuya maintained open old-growth grasslands with grand old Oregon White Oaks in the Willamette Valley as well as elsewhere in the Puget-Willamette Trough. (1) Tannins were processed from the oak acorns through a process of roasting then burying for several months to leach tannins, then acorns were eaten. (3)
Garry Oak is not an economically viable tree since it takes a long time to mature. The economic devaluation of the oak has led to its lack of preservation in the timber industry. Historically, forestry management techniques have been studied and implemented to reduce the growth of Garry Oak in more lucrative conifer-dominated forests. (1) This combined with the lack of controlled burns that shaped much of pre-colonial North American landscapes and a blight of sap-sucking pit-scale insects has depleted much of the range of the only oak native to the Northwest Coast. (3)
MacKinnon, A., & Pojar, J. (1994). Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska. Lone Pine Publishing : Partners Publishing : B.C. Ministry of Forests.
Mathews, D. (2021). Cascadia revealed: A guide to the plants, Animals & Geology of the Pacific Northwest Mountains. Timber Press, Inc.
