Silviculture, Ecology, and Management of Tanoak in Northern California

Considerations of economic potential, past utilization, habitat, ecology, and silviculture are brought together in nine recommendations for managing tanoak in northern California. These include seeding acorns point up, establishing new stands from root crown sprouts, thinning existing young-growth stands, beginning stands from nursery stock planted at different spacings and learning spacing and growth relationships, and committing large enough areas of land to management of tanoak to support manufacturing plants. California by the California State Board of Forestry. It is considered to have economic promise for wood products for several reasons: (1) a history of utilization for a large number of wood products, (2) a fairly extensive distribution in southwestern Oregon and California, (3) a large volume of wood, and (4) a number of wood characteristics that compare favorably with heavily utilized eastern species. History of Utilization Shortly after the California Gold Rush in 1849, the bark of tanoak became a major source of tannin for curing leather. This was probably the first commercial use of the species and constituted an important early industry in California. Soon after, the potential value of tanoak wood also was recognized: "there is some tall and tough oak on the northern coast which probably will begin to come into the market next year" (Anonymous 1853). By 1891, the wood of tanoak was described in glowing terms: "It is not generally known that this is one of the most beautiful of all the hardwoods of America or, for that matter, of any other country. No other oak begins to vie with it for beauty of grain" (Anonymous 1891). In 1908, taxonomist George Sudworth (1967) noted "the promise it gives of furnishing good commercial timber in a region particularly lacking in hardwoods." This and other publications note the likelihood of wood products from tanoak as being a source of wealth. Companies and individuals have heeded this siren song and built processing and manufacturing businesses. Few were profitable for long. One of the principal reasons for failure of these operations was lack of a consistent and reliable source of quality raw material (Hall 1982). A supply of tanoak logs would be found and a company formed to manufacture products from them. However, the supply of logs either did not have the anticipated quality or did not last long enough to sustain the industry. Over the years the wood has been used for flooring, panelling [sic], veneer, plywood, pallets, boat parts, pulp, crossties, decking, fuelwood, and mine timbers (Economic Development Administration 1968). Even baseball bats known as "Oregon Slammers" have been made of tanoak (Mast 1968). Recently, tanoak is being considered for waferboard, as a laminate for