Northern Red Oaks in West Michigan dying

JontreeHI

JontreeHI

Branched out member
Location
West Michigan lakeshore
I'm in southwest Michigan for a family wedding, and apart from the EAB fallout that is basically being ignored and apparently spreading fast, the main thing I've noticed is sudden death of large old red oak.
There have been several removed from a property near my folks' earlier this year, and many more still standing but dead in the pocket of green space behind, some brown leaves still clinging to the branches.
A property adjacent to my cousin's home looks like fall-large bare trees and knee deep leaves in the yard.
Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this, and what, if anything can be done to preserve those still living?
No fruiting bodies, no significant pockets of decay or evidence of gradual die-back over several years. If it wasn't July I would figure these trees to be in fine condition.
My experience is limited to Hawaii and most recently PNW, so I don't even have a guess.
What I do know about the site conditions: sandy soil, primarily dunes with American beech, sugar maple, hemlock and white pine. Ever-changing topography with the dunes piling and rolling and crawling. Although grade-change is a constant, none of the dead trees appear to be buried or anything like that. Again, these trees are not failing, just standing there dead.
What's up?
Thanks guys and gals for any tips.
Jon
 
Oak Wilt? Check for streaking of sapwood just under the bark on twigs and small branches. Similiar to Dutch Elm Disease symptoms.
 
Thanks oak man, I had heard of oak wilt but had forgotten about it. Apparently PNW oaks are not susceptible to it.
I did some reading, and that sounds like exactly what were talking about.
 
Do you have a link to any info about those guys? I briefly looked up cynipid wasps on MSU website, and without any heavy digging, I can only find statements about galls being rarely cause for concern, like the poppers on garryana in the PNW.
I did see some galls, hairy-looking on the leaf, not smooth on twig or acorn, on some oaks I climbed in a part of the woods with no dead guys nearby.
Thanks for anything you've got
 
Thanks Cre. That sounds really serious-how has treatment progressed since publishing of that article?
I didn't climb any of the dead ones, but I didn't see much described there.
I'm leaning more towards the oak wilt guess.
Any Michigan arbs dealing with this particularly this year?
Thanks guys for your thoughts
 
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