Question
I have a fairly large oak tree in my front yard that's been there for 18 years.  It's been a fairly healthy tree (produces acorns every year) but over the past couple of summers I have noticed that some of the smaller branches throughout the tree bare no leaves. Is this something I should be concern about?  Should I prune the barren limbs?  Please help as I'd hate to lose this tree.  Thanks.

Answer
As a tree grows older the inner small branches will self prune mainly due to a shading effect. As long as the ones that are bare are not in the outer crown of the tree and the rest of the foliage is looking good there is nothing to worry about. You can cut these dead branches off if not they will fall on their own your choice. It would make no difference to the overall health of the tree just aesthetic. It just sounds like normal self pruning of a oak.