CHARLESTON - There is a resurrection plan if the Old Main Oak at Eastern Illinois University does not recover from a long winter's sleep.
Eastern Illinois University employees harvested 55 acorns from the McNabb Oak that produced few leaves the past year. If the oak cannot recover by next spring then the acorns will try to create a second generation of the tree believed to be 300 years old, by some calculations.
"Acorns were picked off the tree this year to grow some sons and daughters off it. We have the acorns safely stored. But growing an oak tree is not like spreading pumpkin seeds. We have 55 acorns but we might only have 10 nice sproutings," said Dave Crockett of the Facilities Planning and Management Department.
For now, the university has done the best it can for the tree. A fungus has recently appeared on the bark, adding new concerns. Any dead wood will be trimmed in coming weeks to better prepare the tree for the onslaught of winter, Crockett said.
The plan for now is to wait for the spring and see if foilage develops on most branches.
"If it doesn't improve then we'll have to make a decision on how we should handle it," he said. "It is hard for older trees to mend as fast."
If the second generation plan is necessary, the acorns will need some tender loving care to match the old oak, a tall icon on Eastern's campus since the Old Main building was constructed more than 110 years ago. The oak also precedes the start of the City of Charleston.
The huge oak measures 61 inches in diameter. Its long branches stretch as high as Old Main's office floors, as well as Blair Hall, built about a century ago and then remodeled recently after a devastating fire.
A bolt of lightning is considered the cause of the oak's problems, Crockett said. The lighting strike occurred about nine years ago and measures are now in place to guard against future lightning strikes, he said.
"We have placed rods and a cable as lightning protection. What we've done is similar to what some golf courses do to protect their old trees," Crockett said.
The oak is one of 2,051 trees on Eastern's campus, all placed on a Global Positioning System database. But the oak by Old Main is No. 1 in that database and for good reason.
"When kids graduate here they take photos in front of Old Main, but they also take some by the Old Oak. It's important to this campus," Crockett said.
Contact Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
