There are far, far, worse things that can happen on a hillside than a native plant like scrub oak.

Honestly, if you're on a place where you have a lot of it, you might look into how these bushes protect the next stage of reforestation, ie protecting the junipers / pine trees from elk and deer, and maybe help that process along with a prudent planting here and there.

Other than that, I would guess that cutting it down would just allow the introduction of all kinds of wind-blown seeds and weeds.

The acorns are edible.

Everyone has their own tastes, I know but I think it would be SO sad to get rid of such a beautiful shrub. If they're getting lanky and unattractive they may need a good, hard pruning to revitalize them to their glossy green potential. I put a link below to a page demonstrating how to prune scrub oak to reduce fire danger and maintain their value for wildlife. You will need to scroll down the page to get to the section specific to gambel (scrub) oak.

Here is a link that might be useful: scrub oak management

Bob, I wish you the best of luck. They more you cut it, the more it grows, like that mythical beast that of you cut off one head, two more took its place. It suckers WORSE than aspens, probably equally as bad as chokecherries. Digging it is to no avail. File sets it back a little bit won't kill the roots so it just come back twice as strong.

One of the rangers I worked with at the state park last year called it the demon shrub. Oh how he loved walking down the trail with a bow saw and a pair of loppers and leaving me huge piles to take down to the trash dump where they turned it into mulch.

Never have found a way to control it. Just constant, constant work.

Sad to hear the scrub oak (Gambel's Oak) maligned as a demon shrub, but then I have never had it take over a garden so I have never tried to eliminate it.

Sorry it has become a nasty beast for some, but I deliberately planted it in my yard and love my little oak grove, which consists of Gambel's Oak, Mongolian oak and Wavy-leaved oak. My yard is small but I love Oaks and the Gambel's Oak is just the right size.... And the acorn-eating squirrels and my Dachshunds who chase them love the grove, too. I do have the occasional seedling show up - planted by squirrels? - but thus far have not found the tree to be invasive; I hope I won't live to regret growing it! It's been almost 20 years since I planted it and the Gambel's has been well-behaved thus far so I remain hopeful.

Holly

Maybe they have a cultivated variety that is better behaved than its wild counterpart.

Don't get me wrong, scrub oak isn't something I malign as much as TRUE invasives. Scrub oak is a pain in the butt when your job is to maintain hiking trails through forests of it, but if I were given a choice of looking at a hillside of scrub oak or a hillside of cheatgrass and mullein I would pick the oak any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

"Maybe they have a cultivated variety that is better behaved than its wild counterpart."

Or I may just be lucky, Zach! Here is a quote from the Wikipedia entry about the tree that confirms both your experience and that of maryhm with this tree:

"The plant reproduces from acorns, but also spreads most rapidly from root sprouts that grow from vast underground structures called lignotubers. These reproductive characteristics often result in dense groves or thickets of the trees that often cover entire mountainsides.[2] "

That almost sounds like the scrub oak is trying to compete with Pando, the Utah Quaking Aspen, as being the largest living organism on earth. Please, not in my yard!

I cannot remember where I bought the seedling - it was a long time ago! - but I can't imagine that anyone has done genetic modifications to curb the behavior of the Gambel Oak, doesn't seem to be that much interest in the plant "in the trade," especially back when I bought it. I wanted it because it was A) an oak tree, B) a small oak tree and C) a native of Colorado. There are sprouts that come up around the trunk of the tree in the spring; thus far I have only allowed one of these sprouts to develop into an actual tree and have pruned away all of the other sprouts that show up. That has been the extent of my "controls" over the tree, but now that I am aware of what a monster I COULD have on my hands - "vast underground structures" - YIKES! - I will watch my oak grove a bit more carefully.

Holly