Maples removed at Ogle County Courthouse to be replaced with white oaks

OREGON — White oaks will take the place of the two trees removed July 5 from the north side of the old Ogle County Courthouse.

“The two trees that we removed were hard maples,” said Marcia Heuer, Ogle County Board member and head of its Safety Committee. “They’re not indigenous, and they were an extreme safety concern for our employees and the general public.”

Both trees had deterioration, and there were some dead branches in the canopies surrounding the courthouse and a stump yet to be ground, all safety concerns, said Heuer, who’s also a University of Illinois Extension master naturalist.

The indigenous white oak — also is the Illinois state tree — supports more than 100 species, as opposed to the 27 supported by a hard maple, Heuer said.

“We won’t be planting trees until we get done with the summer heat,” she said. “The trees will be planted in the fall, if available, or definitely next spring.

“We’ll replace with as large of trees as we can afford, to give them as good a growth start as possible. It definitely won’t be until after Autumn on Parade (Oct.1-2), in order to protect the new trees from heavy traffic.”

Replacing the trees will be put out to bid, she said.