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Urban Trees in Southwest Louisiana

Live Oak Inventory

The Mapped Oaks Project

Students from the McNeese State University program in Natural Resource Conservation and Management are locating and documenting mature live oaks  (Quercus virginiana) as they walk along public streets in Lake Charles. They record the tree location, height, and trunk circumference. The circumference is converted to trunk diameter, known as DBH, diameter at breast height. The tree locations are mapped from Global Positioning System coordinates recorded by smart phones. Many oaks have their pictures taken.

Survey areas so far

We started on McNeese campus (over 200 mature oaks), proceeding to downtown Lake Charles and the Charpentier Historic District, Central School, the Civic (Event) Center and Lakeshore Drive along the Lake Charles beach, Enterprise Boulevard, St. Patrick Hospital, University Place, Oak Park subdivision, West McNeese neighborhoods, College Oaks, Prien Lake Park, south Lake Street, Sale Street, and the Tuten Park area. Limited trees in Moss Bluff and Sulphur. Over 3,700 oaks are mapped, only a small fraction of the mature live oaks in our area.  

This project is funded by the Violet Howell, Daniel and Ellen Goos, and Louie D. Barbe Endowed Professorships.

Maps

Navigating the Maps

  • Immediately below is a link to one map showing all of the mature live oaks we have logged in the survey area.
  • Use the sidebar and navigation tools to look around. The box that follows, Selected Areas and Neighborhoods, has maps of  smaller locations and neighborhoods

Open One Map, All Oaks

  • Filter the main map using the sidebar.  Check the boxes to choose map areas, tree size, and street locations. You can combine selections too. 

  • Click on a tree for size, map coordinates, street address and other details.

  • Click the menu icon in the upper left corner to close the sidebar

  • See the menu below for direct zooms to selected neighborhoods. 

Selected Areas and Neighborhoods

We have over 3,500 mature oaks.

That’s a lot, but way too few.

Have an oak to add? Let us know.