“The water from a 2 inch downpour – more than 54,000 gallons per acre, is captured almost entirely by an oak forest’s leaf litter and the organic humus it creates.

Litter and humus don’t hold this water indefinitely, but they do corral it onsite just long enough for it to seep into the ground, replenishing the water table on which so many of us depend.

In areas, with no leaf litter, the same 2 inch rainstorm causes a flood”

The Nature of Oaks by Doug Tallamy, PhD