Our study indicates that oak trees create islands of enhanced fertility beneath their canopy due to processes associated with nutrient cycling. There is the potential for large losses of soil nutrients and inherent soil fertility from oak woodland ecosystems following oak tree removal, a practice commonly promoted to enhance forage production. Our soil solution studies indicate a rapid decrease in soil solution nutrient concentrations following oak tree removal reflecting a decrease in soil fertility. Thus, all evidence suggests that oak trees are an important component of the ecosystem that serve a valuable role in retention of nutrients which in turn contributes to long-term ecosystem sustainability. The enhanced nutrient and soil water relations beneath the oak canopy may further favor blue oak regeneration preferentially beneath the canopy contributing to regeneration success of future generations of oak trees.