Ignoramus8649 wrote:

We have quite a few trees on our property, including big oaks. Every
year we gather huge piles of leaves, like 20 cubic yards or so (wild
guess), and put them on the curb to be "vacuumed" by a giant machine.

Enormous quantity of stuff, simply enormous.

It stikes me as an awful loss of organic matter and something that
would surely lead to soil depletion. Is that correct?

If so, what would be a practical way to address it. I cannot have a
giant compost pile. What else can I do to keep the oranic matter and
yet have a good looking yard.

Use the leaves as a mulch around the trees. Spread as a mulch, the
leaves will decompose, forming compost without a compost pile. It
just takes a little longer. Oaks in particular actually need a
build-up of leaves and leafmold in their root zones if they are to
thrive.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 19 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/