Wildlife Food on Three Ozark Hardwood Sites after Regeneration Cutting

Abstract

AS1 stems larger than 0.5 inch dbh were cut in a black ( Quercus velutina ) and scarlet oak ( Q. cocctnea) stand in the Missouri Ozarks. The crop of vegetation desirable for wildlife during the dormant season, three growing seasons after cutting, was 392 lb per acre on the best site, where black oak site index exceeded 70; 200 lb on the medium site, where site index was between 61 and 70; and 280 lb on the poor site, where site index was 50 to 60. I)uring the fourth year, after cutting, vegetation weights inereased slightly on poor and medium sites and remained the same on the best site. Fruit production was low 3 years after clear-cutting but inlereased significantly 4 years after cutting. A revised timber-managem.ent program for upland central hardwoods on national forest lands calls for even-aged management that utilizes clear-cutting for regeneration and intermediate cutting for maintaining proper stand density ( U. S. Forest Service 1962). Thousands of acres will be substantially modified; thus, the effects on wildlife habitat must be evaluated if wildlife management is to be coordinated with timber mana.gemenlt. Production of understory vegetation desirable for wildlife was scarce after intermediate cutting in black and scarlet oak stands in the Missouri Ozarks where the black oak site index ( the height to which dominant and codominant trees will grow in 50 years) was below 70 (Crawford 1967). It is also impaortant to determine how clear-cutting affects desirable wildlife vegetation, especially on the considerable acreage of the black oak type that is below site index 70. We studied understory vegetation and fruit grolwth after clear-cutting on three olak sites in one area. Obtaining Ithese initial quantitative data was an important first step. However, sites varied throughout the oak-hickory type, and extrapolation of these 1Present address: Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA, Forest Service, Blacksburg, Virginia. findings should not be made without regard for site differences.