After Frank and Elizabeth Gerber established this park, their daughters Sarah and Frances conveyed additional land along its eastern boundary to preserve these magnificent trees. Forester Carl Burhop estimated in 2017 that these oaks were between 175 and 225 years old, which would mean they were young trees when Thomas Jefferson was president. Naturalists consider the white oak (Aquercus alba) the premier wildlife tree, providing shelter, nesting areas, and food for more than 200 species of insects, birds, and animals. It can grow up to 100 feet tall, and its hard wood is high-grade lumber used for furniture, flooring, barrels, veneer, and baskets. It grows in upland forests and tolerates a wide range of soils. Oak Openings Gerber Hill Park, on the western edge of the oak opening region, stands on a high, sandy ridge formed as ancestral Lake Erie receded after the ice age some 10,000 years ago. Beneath the sandy ridge is a layer of impervious water cradling clay, conditions ideal for tallgrass prairie plants and large, spreading oaks. Native Americans kept these areas open within the woods through periodic burns to promote native grasses and flowers used for weaving and medicine and to attract game for hunting. The oak's thick bark resisted the fire, allowing it to remain in the burned areas and giving rise to the name Oak Openings.