West Virginia Oak Restoration Through Forest Management
This Science & Technology Note describes the economic and environmental impacts of oak forests on West Virginia, explains different forest management techniques, and highlights policy options to encourage active forest management by both public and private landowners in order to restore oak forests.
Research Highlights
Oak forests provide economic, environmental, and cultural benefits.
Oak trees are gradually being outcompeted and replaced by shade-tolerant trees.
Forest management practices and collaboration between public and private forest owners is vital to promote oak regeneration.
Oaks are America’s national tree and provide many important benefits to West Virginia. Populations of oaks are beginning to decline, jeopardizing these historic trees. This Science & Technology note discusses the importance of oak trees in West Virginia, why oak populations are declining, and forest management and policy practices that could be implemented to reduce this population decline.
Importance of West Virginia’s Oaks
Oak trees provide numerous environmental and economic benefits. Oak is a keystone species, a species that has a larger environmental impact than its abundance indicates that it should. Eastern oak forests support more than 50 different animal species, and are home to one of the highest varieties of birds. Oak forests contain diverse plant communities on the forest floor, and also host microbes and fungi. West Virginia’s oak forests provide habitat and food for many rare and endangered plants and animals. Oak trees are an important food source for white-tailed deer, which go on to provide economic benefits for the state and food for many hunters. In 2023, West Virginia sold over 300,000 hunting licenses for total sales of over $8 million. Oak trees also produce timber used in a variety of applications, including construction materials, furniture, flooring, and whiskey barrels. Logging and industries derived from wood provide more than 30,000 total jobs throughout the state, producing $3.2 billion annually. In 2021, oak provided approximately 42% of West Virginia’s timber production.
Oak Forest Ecology in West Virginia
Oak forests are the state’s most abundant types of forests, but their population is declining. Although oaks are currently the dominant tree in the tallest parts of forests, the understory, where young oaks grow, is mostly composed of shade-tolerant trees that can outcompete oaks. Oak forests are aging faster than they are regenerated, and West Virginia is actively losing oaks. Forest management may help to avoid oak decline.
Only 4% of oak forests in the National Park Service’s Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory and Monitoring Network, which includes the New River Gorge and Gauley River areas, have sustainable oak regeneration. This may be due to several factors. Invasive species and white-tailed deer can destroy young oak trees, and a lack of fire means that oak trees are often outcompeted by faster-growing trees. Just 12 deer/km2 can eat enough oak to disrupt oak reproduction.
Only 4% of oak forests in the Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory and Monitoring Network are able to regenerate naturally. Included in this network are the New River Gorge and Gauley River areas.
Adapted from National Park Service.
These factors result in a phenomenon known as mesophication, a shift of the forest to shade-tolerant species, commonly maple. Seedlings and saplings of shade-tolerant species are able to outcompete young oak trees, which require more sun to grow. Over time, this means that forests lose their oaks. A study in the Wayne National Forest (southeast Ohio) over a period of 22 years found that mesophication was occurring, resulting in an overall decrease in tree species richness and poor oak reproduction. Current predictions suggest that if forest management is not used, maples will make up more than 50% of forests in 100 years. If only public lands are managed, a minimal impact on oak populations is expected. If private lands are managed, the model predicted that oak populations would stabilize.
Oak forests in the Eastern Rivers and Mountains Inventory and Monitoring Network don’t have enough oak seedlings and saplings to replace aging oak trees. Populations of maple and other trees are increasing through mesophication.
Adapted from National Park Service.
Forest Management Practices
The Forest Land and Resource Management Plan for the Monongahela National Forest includes the use of two-aged and shelterwood harvesting in conjunction with prescribed fire. The plan also emphasizes the need for hunter access to oak restoration areas during deer season. These forest management practices are well tested; a study on two sites in the New River Gorge National Park found that controlled burns and deer exclusion resulted in a sixfold increase in oak seedlings taller than one foot. One source reports that shelterwood regeneration and prescribed fire are the most effective at restoring oak forests in the Appalachian region.
Prescribed fire, which is allowed by code in West Virginia, can be used to help reduce the risk of wildfires by reducing fuel availability, preparing sites for new plantings, managing competition, and helping control diseases and insects. Oaks have properties that allow them to survive fire better than their competitors. For this reason, prescribed fire is often a component of oak regeneration. Plans for prescribed fire in the Monongahela National Forest include burns on 1,000-1,500 acres annually to help facilitate oak restoration and acorn production. In 2025, burns were completed in Greenbrier and Tucker counties. While there are inherent risks, West Virginia has guidelines to make prescribed fires as safe as possible, including certified fire manager supervision, a fire prescription, and government notification.
Policy Options for Active Forest Management
Cooperation with private landowners is vital for forest management, as 85% of West Virginia’s forests are privately owned. The West Virginia Division of Forestry provides resources to private forest owners, including forester consultations, resource analyses, forest management plans, cost sharing, and tax incentives. In considering policy options for West Virginia, it may be helpful to consider actions to incentivize forest management by private landowners.
One barrier to prescribed fire implementation is potential legal liability. 27 states have enacted liability standards for prescribed fires, however, West Virginia is not one of them. Kansas and Florida, the states with the most use of prescribed fire, both specify that prescribed fire users are not liable unless negligence can be proven. Clarifying legal liability for prescribed fire users could be one option to implement in West Virginia that may encourage active forest management.
West Virginia could encourage active forest management by expanding programs designed to address the cost of implementing forest management programs. Currently, West Virginia provides 75% cost sharing for forest management plan development, but not for use of these management practices. Ohio has two programs designed to provide cost sharing for development and implementation of forest management practices, and Pennsylvania reimburses up to $25,000 for approved management practices.
This Science and Technology Note was prepared by Madison Flory, PhD, West Virginia Science & Technology Policy Fellow on behalf of the West Virginia Science and Technology Policy (WV STeP) Initiative. The WV STeP Initiative provides nonpartisan research and information to members of the West Virginia Legislature. This Note is intended for informational purposes only and does not indicate support or opposition to a particular bill or policy approach. Please contact info@wvstep.org for more information.