We all know someone who enjoys a glass of Kentucky bourbon or Tennessee whiskey on the rocks, but we often don’t know the environmental toll production takes. American law requires all bourbon batches to be aged in virgin oak barrels. It’s not the most sustainable process, even though some solutions have been found. However, oak trees are in decline due to climate change stressors. Distillers are taking action to keep their barrel supply flush.
Jack Daniel’s is working with Dendrifund, a nonprofit seed fund advocating for more oak conservation. It was created by Brown-Forman, Jack Daniel’s parent company. In 2017, the fund partnered with the American Forest Foundation and the University of Kentucky to launch the White Oak Initiative. The goal is to replant and restore white oak forests across North America.
According to Trellis, oak trees are dying across the globe, with 39 countries recording an oak species decline. This situation is putting pressure on the government, especially in American whiskey heartlands, to enact some sort of conservation policy for white oak and other oak species. However, private institutions are picking up some steam.
In November 2021, the White Oak Initiative assessed the state of the white oak population. More than 104 million acres of white oak are in public and private forestlands throughout the Midwest and Southeast.
The trees support woodland wildlife and play a significant role in biodiversity.
The coalition still believes more trees are needed and drew up 10 forest management practices to restore white oak populations. The practices include releasing more crop trees, afforestation, prescribed burns, assisting acorn germination, and herbivore exclusion.
Photo Courtesy Daniel Norris
In December 2023, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded the Tennessee Forestry Association $450,000 to improve the Volunteer State’s forests. The grant specifically targeted where Jack Daniel’s sources its white oak for barrels. Candace Dinwiddie, executive director of the Tennessee Forestry Association, told The Lynchburg Times the grant “will make a difference to the sustainable management” of white oak.
This population decline is not just because of bourbon aging requirements. White oak lumber is some of the most profitable and is used in furniture, flooring, cabinetry, and wine and spirits distilling. According to the White Oak Initiative, young oaks are limited, with around 75% of the U.S.’s white oaks being mature trees. The acorns are food sources for more than 100 species of birds and animals. Invasive insects, disease, behavior, and climate change have also impacted the tree’s sustainability.
Brown-Forman has been working in conversation circles for decades.
The Jack Daniel’s tree farm in Moore County, Tennessee, was recently protected by the Land Trust for Tennessee. The 30-acre farm has been a 30-year collaboration between the distiller and the University of Tennessee.
The partnership grows white oak and sugar maple trees, which are utilized for barrel production and charcoal for the whiskey’s flavor profile, and allows the university to use seeds for planting elsewhere.
Photo Courtesy Zhivko Minkov
“We chose to protect the orchard through a conservation easement because of the great work and reputation of The Land Trust and the shared values with Jack Daniel’s of protecting our environment and preserving nature wherever we can,” Larry Combs, Jack Daniel’s general manager, said in a Land Trust for Tennessee blog post.
According to Trellis, Brown-Forman is backing the bipartisan White Oak Resilience Act. This bill would increase white oak reforestation projects, some of which would be overseen by the Department of the Interior, and would call on several areas of American society to plant and manage white oak forests.
The bill outlines government-university partnerships that would be built to continue research on the tree’s sustainability. A restoration fund would also be established. Given the economic role bourbon production plays in several states’ economies, finding bipartisan support may not be difficult.
There are a lot of stakeholders involved in creating a successful white oak restoration campaign, but having the back of a multi-million dollar business like Jack Daniel’s is monumental. The money can expedite reforestation and support various nature-based solutions to address habitat loss, carbon sequestration, and other climate change-related actions. It will be interesting to see how Dendrifund carries out the White Oak Initiative in the coming years.
