Preserve or sell gnarly old oak?

I found a 200+ year old oak tree in the middle of my property. It’s not tall & straight lumber material. A large branch had broken off maybe 15’ high up and the surviving portion looks like it split from the weaker part that broke off. It is a gnarly tree with a number of pink lady slippers surrounding it.

I have a logger coming for a possible timber sell-off (4-1/2 acres of chestnut oak, white oak, maple, and poplar).

I’m thinking about roping off the area around the old oak and orchids. Would this be a bad idea?

I’ve been unsuccessful in trying to get a forester cruise. I don’t want to drive off the one logger I could find. What sort of value does a gnarly old oak have?

not sure of $$, but may be some furniture makers will like the bends and twists.

It might be valuable to you? a source of leaf mulch for your garden? shade fro house/car? depending on where it is in relation to

...Yet if you are considering the ecological value then it is GREAT as the linked articles begins to detail

Oaks; the most powerful plant of all

While it sounds like you are in a vastly different area from me, it's not likely to be attractive to them in my experience unless they are looking at it for live edge slabs. Around here oaks are of no value to loggers, it's all douglas fir and some pine or cedar. Our oaks hollow out as they age.

Your dilemma reminds of the Taoist fable of the gnarly tree....

https://www.myhomevitality.com/the-old-gnarly-tree-a-moral-story/

Maybe keep it for seed stock?