The back yard we won't have

Old-field succession is attempting to occur in our little patch of suburbia. The two white oaks in the back yard had a definite mast year; we've been crunching acorns underfoot since October, and not even the infamous North Parkersburg Deer Herd was able to eat them all. What this means is that there are now several hundred four-to-six-inch oak seedlings spreading out to catch the sun in every appropriate spot in the back yard, which is MUCH too small to hold several hundred fifty-foot white oak trees. I've also noticed a good selection of wild cherry seedlings, a smattering of dogwoods and sugar maples, and one lonely white pine. Obviously, our yard wants to revert to the Great Eastern Forest of which it was once a part.

While I'm tempted to let nature take its course (hey, watching baby trees grow is more fun and less work than mowing grass), I suspect the neighbors would object.