UW-Platteville Wants Public’s Help In Hunt For Old Oak Trees

People in southwest Wisconsin who know of large, old oak trees are being asked to help with a study on climate change.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville plan to take growth-ring samples from 400 living oak trees to see how the rings correspond with weather data. The aim is to learn about long-ago droughts and help community planners understand the frequency of extreme weather events.

Assistant geography professor Evan Larson says his team could use some help in locating suitable trees in the southwest Driftless Area, beyond the plan to look at aerial photos.

There are so many valleys and hills and hollows, and it’s in those places that the oaks are going to found,” says Larson. “We need the expertise of the people who live here, and who are familiar with the land.”

Larson says the tree coring won’t harm the oaks, and will be done in the winter when a disease called oak wilt is not active.