There are methods of harvesting timber that do not require the wholesale decimation of the forest but they require thought and the acceptance of less profit. It is easier to Slay Everything.
English ivy, english privet, tree of heaven, japanese honeysuckle. Native plants displaced.This is an artificial landscape, triangular planting of trees, 99% resident in the Tidewater. Waiting for the canopy to close then will work on understory…
Microclimate, soil, genetics, on board afflictions. This Bur oak has yet to leaf out. Fifty feet away is another individual who has had a flush of growth, producing new stems replete with leaves. Nature is an enduring mystery.