Grove’s oak trees topple during storm, but it was only a matter of time

LAKEVILLE — Two massive white oak trees blew down at the town Grove during Thursday’s storm.First Selectman Curtis Rand, who also is a forester, said the trees were quite old and ailing. The one that fell first and took out the second had “significant root loss.” The second tree “was completely rotten in the trunk.”Rand said some of the white oaks at the Grove are 300 years old. “These are pre-settlement trees.”For replacements, rather than buying white oak saplings or seedlings, Stacey Dodge (who is the Grove manager) and George Kiefer (the town’s forester) will use seedlings from acorns collected at the site. “It’s a great project,” Rand said. Burst acorns are collected from the beach and put in pots.“These are called ‘progenitor genotypes,’ ” Rand said. “It’s nicer to use those than buy them from Pennsylvania or Virginia.”