Exploring The Last Green Valley: Eastern white oak: State tree and so much more By Bill Reid — Donald Culross Peattie from “A Natural History of North American Trees” The last several years have been hard on oak trees in The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor and throughout much of southern New England. The worst were the successive dry years of 2015, 2016 and 2017, when a bloom of gypsy moth caterpillars defoliated many oaks due to the caterpillars’ preference for oak leaves. After multiple years of losing their life-giving leaves, many oaks succumbed. In some places, it seemed the oldest and largest of the oaks were hit the hardest, including many tall, stately eastern white oaks. Today I want to explore the history and characteristics of this oak species and provide some perspective on this important and unique tree.