White Oak is a favorite source of food and habitat for wildlife, and makes strong, beautiful lumber that is prized by crafstmen.  It is also hard to establish young trees, since deer like to eat the buds, twigs, and leaves of Oak seedlings as much as they like eating the acorns. And it needs full sun to grow - an Oak seedling can't grow in the shade of the forest floor.  Since it is hard to naturally regenerate under usual land management practices, and since Oak trees were heavily harvested over the past generations, White Oak is scarce in many parts of Northeastern Iowa, and my land is no exception.  Where I find young a White Oak naturally growing, I clear out surrounding competition to give it a chance.  Most of the few mature trees we have were originally growing in the open, so they tend to have stubby, branchy trunks.  They really aren't great for creating lumber, so instead, I just leave them alone, and appreciate the asthetic, environmental, and habitat value they provide.  In any case, the very little White Oak lumber we have for sale was harvested from a well-beyond-mature tree that fell over the fence onto our property.  We'll have more to sell in about 90 years.