Kentucky lawmakers lead effort to protect white oak trees

WASHINGTON — Before it makes it to your glass, bourbon is aged in barrels made of charred new oak, helping give Kentucky’s signature spirit its flavor and color.

White oak trees grow in Kentucky and surrounding states, but environmental advocates said action is needed to protect them.

“Forest inventory analysis data from the Forest Service shows that while there are a lot of mature white oak trees out there across the eastern United States, there are not very many seedlings growing, and that’s primarily because sunlight’s not reaching the forest floor,” said Jason Meyer, executive director of the White Oak Initiative. “We’re not managing forests like we used to.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., have introduced bipartisan legislation, the White Oak Resilience Act of 2024.  

It directs research, calls for pilot projects focused on the white oak and would allow for private funding of restoration efforts.

Many species of wildlife depend on the trees and the decline of the mature white oak could happen in the next 20-30 years, Meyer said.

“While we have white oak-dominated ecosystems right now, in the future, those ecosystems are going to disappear if we don’t do something about it,” he said.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, and Rep. James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, co-sponsored companion legislation, which recently passed the House as an amendment to a separate bill.