Saying Goodbye to Lincoln Park Zoo’s 300-Year-Old Oak and 11 Things You Can Do to Protect the Environment

BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER AND AUTHOR OF NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND

A beloved 300-year-old bur oak tree will be cut down at Lincoln Park Zoo today because it has reached the end of its urban lifespan. Last fall, Katrina Quint, the zoo’s director of horticulture, estimated that the tree was about 80 percent dead. The tree’s large, decaying branches have also become a safety risk for zoo visitors.

While this is a time of sadness, it’s also a time to celebrate the tree for its long life, beauty, and the gifts it gave to humans, animals, and the environment. And if the tree could talk, its stories of pre-settlement Chicago to today would be amazing. But before we say goodbye to this majestic bur oak, let’s go back to 1723 and tell its story. 

Somewhere around this date, an acorn fell to the ground from a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa). Many other acorns fell from the bur oak and other trees in the savanna where the zoo is now located. Some were eaten by white-tailed deer, black bears, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, foxes, wood ducks, wild turkeys, rabbits, and other animals. Others were gathered by Native Americans, who used them for food and medicinal purposes—including for heart problems. (The Scharf Map of 1804 shows several Native American villages and camps near what is now the zoo.) But the Lincoln Park bur oak acorn sprouted and beat the odds and grew over the centuries to 70 feet in height.

The oak avoided destruction by wildfires in its early years before its bark grew thick enough to protect its cambium from high temperatures.

It avoided severe damage by insects such as caterpillars, nut weevils, oak skeletonizers, and leaf miners.

The oak was not chopped down for firewood or building materials—a minor miracle in a city that went from about 4,000 residents in 1837 to more than 503,000 people in 1880.

And it resisted diseases such as oak wilt, chestnut blight, anthracnose, oak leaf blister, cankers, and powdery mildew.

This beautiful bur oak sheltered many birds (including hawks, chickadees, nuthatches, owls, swallows, wrens, warblers, flickers, woodpeckers, starlings, sparrows, flycatchers, bluebirds, and titmice), insects, and squirrels in its bark, stems, and foliage. It also provided shade to humans, and its acorns continued to provide sustenance to humans and animals. I like to imagine that in its prairie days, white wild indigo, purple coneflower, round-headed bush clover, lead plant, and blue aster grew beneath its branches or near it.

In the 1860s, the bur oak became park of the woods and prairie of a new 60-acre park called Lake Park, according to the Chicago Architecture Center. Lake Park was renamed Lincoln Park in 1865 after the assassination of President Lincoln. In 1868, the commissioners of Lincoln Park received a gift of two swans from New York City’s Central Park Board of Commissioners. The gift marked the beginning of Lincoln Park Zoo, which is one of the oldest zoos in North America. The zoo has provided a free place for Chicagoans to see animals (it was more of a menagerie of exotic animals in its early days than what we now know as a zoo) and learn about the importance of conservation and environmental protection (in more recent decades). Its canopy of trees and swathes of plants and flowers have provided a green respite to visitors from the days when Chicago was a gritty industrial city to the world-class destination it is today.

My family immigrated from Germany to Chicago in the 1860s, and I like to think that members of our first American generation or subsequent generations visited the zoo and enjoyed the view of the bur oak and other trees. My Aunt Judith recalls visiting the zoo in the late 1940s with my Great-grandmother Ida. I’ve visited the zoo many times—including with my son—and saw the bur oak and marveled at its size and beauty.

But time marches on for every living thing. The bur oak is old by urban standards. Bur oaks in the city often live less than those that live in optimum growing conditions in natural areas. These oaks can reach 400 years of age and even older. A bur oak tree studied in Kentucky was an estimated 440 years old, according to “The Blue Ash-Oak Savanna: Woodland, a Remnant of Presettlement Vegetation in the Inner Bluegrass of Kentucky.”   

There’s good news amidst the sadness of the bur oak’s demise. The zoo says that “the tree will live on in partnership with The Morton Arboretum, where 36 of its scions were grafted onto rootstock for propagation, preserving its genetics.” The zoo hopes to preserve slices of the tree for memorials, educational tools, and nature play spaces at the zoo, as well as use it to create works of art. It has also hosted a variety of events and activities to celebrate the life of its centuries-old tree. There are also several 100-year-old bur oaks at the zoo to view if you need a future bur oak and Chicago history experience. Finally, while the bur oak will soon be just a fond memory, Lincoln Park Zoo remains a premier destination in the city to learn about animals and conservation. The best part is that admission is free, providing people from all economic backgrounds with the opportunity to appreciate nature and learn about conservation. Pair your trip to Lincoln Park Zoo with visits to the Lincoln Park Conservatory (which is also free) and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (which charges an admission fee, but offers free admission to Illinois residents on its “Suggested Donation Days”).

A Call to Action     

If you have the free time, visit the zoo today to see the oak and any day to learn about the important environmental and conservation issues that affect Chicagoans and people throughout the world. The tree is located near the zoo’s white-cheeked gibbon habitat.

But there’s much more you can do to ensure a healthy canopy of trees in Chicago and its suburbs, reduce global warming, cleanse the air, improve biodiversity, and create other environmental benefits. You can plant a bur oak tree (if you have a large property) or another type of oak tree if you are a city dweller (20 oak species are native to Illinois). It’s important to plant oaks because they are beautiful, they provide environmental benefits, they have been a key component of Chicagoland’s ecosystems for thousands of years, and the number of oak savannahs in the region have declined drastically as a result of agricultural and urban development and other factors. “In the early 1900s, oak savannas occupied up to 32 million acres in the Midwest, and in 1985, only about 6,400 acres of ‘high-quality’ oak savanna remained,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Oak savannas are now considered one of the most threatened plant communities in the Midwest and among the most threatened in the world, according to the University of Illinois. “Less than 0.01 percent of the original savanna community remains.”  

Many forest preserve districts, botanical gardens, park districts, and nature organizations sell or give away low-cost seedlings and bare root plants. Here are a few companies and organizations that offer oak trees at a low cost:

Possibility Place Nursery is one of my top local picks for native plants and trees, including a quaking aspen and many compass plants, cardinal flowers, brown-eyed Susans, great blue lobelias, and other natives I’ve planted on our property. Click here to purchase bur oaks and here to buy other types of oak trees.  

North Branch Natives: Another great Chicago-based provider.

Prairie Moon Nursery in Winona, Minnesota, is another of my other native plant favorites; it, of course, offers shipping to those who are interested in adding native plants and trees to their gardens.

Arbor Day Foundation

Visit the Morton Arboretum’s website for more information about bur oaks and other trees that are native to the Chicago area. It holds an annual plant sale for several days around Arbor Day.

The Chicago Botanic Garden offers periodic plant/tree sales and plant giveaways. It has nearly 500 bur oaks in its collection.

Final Thoughts

I hope that you have your own favorite tree in your yard, neighborhood, or city park that you’ve climbed, sat under to enjoy the shade or birdsong, or that has provided you with other enjoyable experiences. If not, find a tree to love and appreciate in your neighborhood or local preserve. Better yet, plant one to make our city and region a greener place. Here are some other ways to protect and nurture the environment:

• Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Drive less, and walk and bike more.
• Work as a volunteer at beach cleanups, in watershed protection, or in wildlife monitoring and management.
• Join the Openlands TreeKeepers, “an ever-growing community of tree ambassadors that care for the urban forest in Chicagoland.”
• Grow native plants, and replace your lawn with native grasses, sedges, wildflowers, and other plants.
• Use long-lasting light bulbs. The National Ocean Service says that “energy efficient light bulbs help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
• Use less water and purchase rain barrels to collect and re-use rain water.
• Choose non-toxic chemicals for household cleaning and other tasks.
• Make sustainable food choices.
• Use reusable shopping bags and eliminate the use of plastic bags.  

Additional Information

Many don’t realize that the remains of Native American villages lie just below our gardens and streets, our el lines and skyscrapers sit atop what were once Native American burial mounds (before many were removed to use as landfill), and our forest preserves still harbor centuries of French, Spanish, and Native American history just waiting to be discovered. The indigenous tribes of the region (e.g., Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, Illinois) were forced (via violence and unfair treaties) from their beautiful homelands along Lake Michigan, in the river valleys of the area, and other areas west of the Mississippi as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As a result, the Indian population in Chicago was very low until the 1950s, when the federal government sought to force Native Americans from their reservations to urban areas. “Chicago today has the third-largest urban Indian population in the United States, with more than 65,000 Native Americans in the greater metropolitan area and some 175 different tribes represented,” according to “We’re Still Here: Chicago’s Native American Community,” an article by Daniel Hautzinger at WTTW.com. You can learn more about Native Americans in Chicagoland by visiting the website of the American Indian Center, one of the oldest urban Native American centers in the country. Several area museums provide more information on Native American history, culture, and arts, including:

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian: its website; my article about the museum  

Field Museum: its website; my article about the museum  

Isle a la Cache Museum: its website; my article about the museum  

Other resources include:

“The Mighty Oak: Oak Trees of the Chicago Region” 

“Oak Ecosystems in the Chicago Wilderness Region” 

“Fire Effects Information System: Quercus macrocarpa”

“Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)”

Copyright (text, except quoted material) Andrew Morkes

Copyright (photos): Lincoln Park Zoo, except for the acorn photo (copyright Tina Shaw/USFWS.)

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Looking for some great nature destinations in Chicagoland–including many near Lincoln Park Zoo? If so, check out my book, Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book has 306 pages and 210+ photos and is only $18.99.

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ABOUT ANDREW MORKES

I have been a writer and editor for more than 25 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the editorial director of the CAM Report career newsletter and College Spotlight newsletter; the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I’m also a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school. 

In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 40 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).

My poetry has appeared in Cadence, Wisconsin Review, Poetry Motel, Strong Coffee, and Mid-America Review.