Last couple years and seems worse this year noticing a lot of rock oak and some red oak dying, gypsy moth doesn’t seem that bad and I didn’t think the lantern fly bothered with oak?

I might add I’m in central Pa.

We're seeing a lot of Oak Wilt in Wisconsin

Gypsy moths catapillers defoliants the tree two years in a row and they don’t recover. Seeing it a lot in clear field and Clinton county

Oak wilt in Minnesota too.

Oak wilt. Tough to see a good tree die.

Lot's of trees stressed this year from the drought and heat. USFS say's if a tree you want seems to have died, give it 7 years of dorrmancy,.it might come back, unless the bark is sloughing off, then forget it.

Between wilt and Gypsy moths, I've lost well over 100 big oaks over last 2 to 4 years. I leave them stand dead now, they dry and the bark falls off. When the wind takes one down I cut it up for some great firewood. White oaks are doing ok so far. My upland forest understory has thickened up without the shade of the big oaks. I have seen more wild game with the lower browse.

I would guess we have lost well over 100 as well, not saying we don’t have any gypsy moth but it is nothing like the late 80’s, i believe the wilt fungus probably is to blame, tried keeping up cutting but looks like a losing battle this year.

Oak wilt will cause a rapid top down defoliation then death, it travels on beetle shells so not cutting/trimming oaks outside of frost months can help prevent the spread as the beetles are dormant. The wilt travels through the roots which is why you will sometimes see one side of a road dead and other doing fine.

White Oaks will survive Oak Wilt but Reds have a tough go.

Interesting.

Don't do this if the tree is in striking distance of anything of value, telling customers we now need a 150 ton crane to remove their trees and the telling them the cost that goes with it is pretty shocking to most.

This was the second summer with gypsy moths, and I mean bad. trees leafed twice both years but no rain really hurt this past summer. Now I notice around the yard, the maples have bore hole at the bases, about a foot off the ground.

Around here the govt treats for gypsy moths

Lots of dead red oaks and post oaks here

Had one in back yard, arborist said if we spent 2K and had some exceptional luck that it MIGHT survive. I had it cut down for $600, cut it in manageable trunks and it will be made into firewood when it cools.

I need to start flagging the dead ones soon so when all the leaves fall off of the others I can ID the ones to cut

The freeze we had Feb before last (got down to single digits and stayed for nearly a week) contributed to a lot of the damage.

The hard part w/ oak wilt is cutting only the infected trees doesn't solve the problem.

Between all the tree diseases, invasives, & unsustainable land devolopment, I would think lumber/paper mills must be nervous about their future

I would be more worried about weird government regulations than the problems you came up with. Still plenty of hardwoods where I live. Another reason I am not worried about your reasons is that the local sawmills don't pay very well. We can make more money hauling scrap metal than logs. LOL.

Another thing that concerns me is the whole environmental movement that makes loggers look "bad".

X2 on all above. What blows my mind is how red oak has become the least desirable wood around here.