Cutover Lands Research Articles

Beneficial and biocontrol effects of Trichoderma atroviride, a dominant species in white birch rhizosphere soil.

White birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.) is a typical pioneer tree species that is important in forest restoration in northern China, Japan, and Korea. In the present study, 37 isolates were obtained from B. platyphylla rhizosphere soils in Heilongjiang Province; they were identified as T. pleuroticola (3 isolates), T. virens (2 isolates), T. hamatum (8 isolates), T. atroviride (21 isolates, dominant species) and T. asperelloides (3 isolates). Stress tolerance tests (salt, alkali, and nutritional stress that simulated saline alkali or barren soil) and confrontation assays (with four pathogens) were performed to determine which isolates had good biocontrol ability in barren soil; the results show that T. atroviride was outstanding. Then, in order to determine the effect of T. atroviride on plants and soil, Gynura cusimbua seeds were sown and treated with a T. atroviride spore suspension, as was unsown soil. The seedlings treated using T. atroviride had significantly greater height, stem diameter, soluble protein content, soluble sugar content, and malonaldehyde (MDA) content and their catalase (CAT) activity was also significantly increased. In addition, when the plants were inoculated with Alternaria alternata, the plants treated using T. atroviride had stronger CAT activity, significantly higher soluble protein content and soluble sugar content, and significantly lower MDA content, which indicates stronger resistance and less injury caused by the pathogen. In addition, T. atroviride not only increased the content of available nitrogen and available phosphorus in the soil, but also promoted G. cusimbua seedlings' absorption of available nitrogen and available phosphorus. Thus, the characteristics of T. atroviride may make it the main factor that helps B. platyphylla colonise cut-over lands. T. atroviride, a promising biocontrol candidate, can be used in agriculture and forestry.

Genetic characterization of promising high-yielding cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) cultivars from Côte d'Ivoire

Description of the subject. Cashew was introduced to Côte d'Ivoire in 1951 to control erosion and reforest cutover lands. From 1972 to 1980, natural forest plantations were converted to fruit orchards and were supplemented by the ‘Jumbo’ cashew variety imported from Brazil. Germplasm expeditions conducted in 2010 and 2014–2015 identified 209 high-yielding cultivars in the major cashew growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire. Although the morphological characteristics of these cultivars have been assessed, little is known about the genetic diversity and genetic structure of the germplasm collection. Objectives. The objective of the study was to evaluate the genetic diversity of high-yielding cashew cultivars for better use in breeding programs. Method. We performed DNA isolation using Qiagen DNeasy Plant Mini Kits and PCR analysis with 18 SSR markers. Results. We identified the first two introduced populations of cashew in Côte d’Ivoire. The average allelic richness is 3.56 (± 1.45) alleles per locus, the fixation index (FIS) indicates an overall heterozygosity deficit of 0.332 (± 0.076), and the average population differentiation (FST) is 0.014 (± 0.004). Much of the total genetic variability occurs at the intra-population level (98.6%), compared to only 1.4% variability attributable to differences between populations. Average value of gene flow is 22.528. Conclusions. Gene flow within cashew populations maintains high intra-population genetic diversity. This flow rate reflects a long-term exploitable genetic variability for use in selection and conservation.

Responses of soil Collembolans to vegetation restoration in temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests

A total of 900 soil samples were collected from five habitats, including primary coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests, secondary coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests, secondary broad-leaved forests, secondary shrub forests, and cutover lands in spring, summer, and autumn to quantify responses of soil Collembolans (springtails) to the restoration of vegetation of temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests. The results reveal that the taxonomic composition of Collembolans varied in the different stages of vegetation restoration. Seasonal variations were in regard to their abundance and richness. High similarities existed in Collembola communities at different stages of vegetation restoration, and distribution patterns of Collembola taxa displayed an evenness throughout all habitats. Soil Collembolans tended to gather on litter layers and soil surface; the highest abundance was found in the upper 5 cm soil layer during the initial stages of vegetation recovery. Tomocerus, Proisotoma, and Folsomia genera responded positively to the restoration of vegetation. However, responses of Ceratophysella and Parisotoma genera were negative. In addition, the Onychiuridae family did not respond to the vegetation restoration process. It was concluded that restoration of vegetative cover can increase the abundance of soil Collembolans, but different genera respond differently.

Prediction models and the extrapolation effects for water content of surface dead fuels in the typical stand of the Great Xing'an Mountains of China by one-hour time step.

The water content of surface dead fuels is one of the most important indicators for forecasting fire danger and fire behaviors. We employed the timelag equilibrium water content methods (i.e. Nelson and Simard models) and the meteorological variable regression method to continuously measure the water content of surface dead fuels by one-hour time step from September to October in 2010 under Populus davidiana + Betula platyphylla, Picea koraiensis and the cutover lands (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica + Betula platyphylla) with different canopy densities in Pangu Forestry Bureau, the Great Xing'an Mountains, Heilongjiang Province, China. We established prediction models and obtained prediction errors. The models were also used to extrapolate the water contents of surface dead fuels under other forest stands and the extrapolation accuracy was analyzed. The results showed that the mean absolute error, the mean relative error and the mean square error root of Nelson model (0.0154, 0.104 and 0.0226) were lower than those of Simard model (0.0185, 0.117 and 0.0256). In terms of extrapolation effects, the mean absolute error, the mean relative error and the mean square error root of meteorological variable regression method (0.0410, 0.0300 and 0.0740) were lower than those of Simard model (0.610, 0.492 and 0.846), but they were higher than those of Nelson model (0.034, 0.021 and 0.0660). Such results indicated that the timelag equilibrium moisture content method by one-hour time step, especially Nelson model, was sui-table for the forest stands in the Great Xing'an Mountains. Although extrapolation could not reduce the prediction errors, it could help improve the prediction accuracy and the efficiency of the present models applied to different forest stands or in a larger scale. The modeling and extrapolation errors were closely related to species identity and canopy densities, thus the appropriate timelag equilibrium moisture content methods should be selected according to different forest stands and locations.

State-Level Forestry Cost-Share Programs and Economic Impact of Increased Timber Outputs: A South Carolina Case Study

Management of family forests in the United States has been long-influenced by public policies and programs that encourage active management on these private lands, especially afforestation of idle lands and reforestation of cut-over lands. Financial incentive programs to encourage family forest reforestation date back to the 1940s, and in the beginning were funded by the federal government. Beginning in the early 1970s, state governments, especially those with strong forestry-based economies, saw a need to offer their own incentives, primarily cost-share programs to increase forest productivity. These programs are considered to be successful, but little research addresses the value and increased timber supply that result from the state investment. Here, we use historical data from the South Carolina Forest Renewal Program (FRP), one of the oldest and well-established state forestry cost-share programs, to determine the incremental timber outputs generated. Marginal analysis was used to produce financial comparison between regeneration options that include cost-share and those that do not. Annual funding for the FRP is currently $1,000,000 and in the long-run five dollars of economic impact is created for each dollar invested, and over a half million tons of additional wood is added to the annual timber supply.

Aaron Shapiro. The Lure of the North Woods: Cultivating Tourism in the Upper Midwest.

In the second half of the nineteenth century and running up into the twentieth, iron mines, copper mines, and loggers worked their will on the abundant natural resources found in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as the northernmost reaches of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Settlers and companies were lured to these places by promises of work, opportunity, and riches. Decade after decade, in an area that Aaron Shapiro describes as essentially a single region or landscape, industry obliterated the wilderness by clear-cutting forests and sinking mines into the ground. But beginning around 1900, the pace of environmental transformation at the hands of industry slowed. As commercial interests, especially logging, receded, the economic question in the first decades of the twentieth century became, what's next? The region needed to reinvent itself, and this act of reinvention is the subject of Shapiro's The Lure of the North Woods: Cultivating Tourism in the Upper Midwest. Initially, considerable thought was given to rejuvenating the economy by planting crops where forests had once stood, and by attracting permanent settlers and agricultural pursuits. But that plan had limited success, and Shapiro documents the shift to a new strategy. Instead of being defined as a place of labor, the region would be redefined as a place of leisure and recreation. Instead of luring in permanent settlers, the area could draw in transient vacationers. The author strongly makes the case that the transformation of cut-over land into an important American playground happened because a wide range of actors redefined the North Woods, added new assets or attractions to it, and vigorously promoted it.

Selective Cutting, Rehabilitation, and Alternatives for Forests of Northeastern North America and Elsewhere

I n the 1928 Journal of Forestry, Marinus Westveld commented that logging in the Northeast dating to the mid-1800s had been selective cutting that removed desirable species of large sizes. Later, commercial clearcuts removed progressively smaller trees of merchantable quality and desirable species. Indiscriminate logging damaged young growing stock and regeneration, and residual stands were poorly stocked with low-quality trees of undesirable species (Westveld 1928). Today, selective cutting remains widespread throughout many of the natural forests of northeastern North America (e.g., Fajvan et al. 1998, McGill et al. 2004, Stringer 2008, Munsell et al. 2009). The term is often incorrectly used to suggest some form of unevenaged management. However, the Society of American Foresters (SAF) defines selective cutting as partial cutting and specifies that it “should not be confused with cutting done in accordance with the selection method” of silviculture (Helms 1998). An earlier SAF dictionary (Ford-Robertson 1971) uses less salutatory language, describing selective cutting as: “a type of exploitative cutting that removes only certain species (a) above a certain size, (b) of high value, known silvicultural requirements, and/or sustained yields being wholly or largely ignored or found impossible to fulfill”. Yet forestry and silviculture have the central purpose of providing landowners the means to make sustainable management possible, while providing values of interest. Most commonly, selective cutting occurs as diameter-limit cutting, defined as removal of all merchantable trees above or below as specified dbh . . . with or without cutting of cull trees (Ford-Robertson 1971, Helms 1998). Generally, such harvesting removes only the larger trees, opportunistically capitalizing on the volume and value a landowner can extract from a forest without concern for the future, and leaving the small trees as residuals. It does not control stocking or regeneration, adjust spacing among residual trees, or deliberately upgrade the growing stock quality. Long-term effects differ between evenand uneven-aged stands, but remain largely unpredictable. Westveld (1928) noted the extremely varied condition of cutover lands and cautioned that foresters could not likely develop silvicultural treatments to apply uniformly across a region or forest type. He did not explicitly address within-stand variability but emphasized the importance of making investments in cultural treatments only where warranted by local conditions. Though not directly called rehabilitation, he advocated cleaning, weeding, and other release treatments to accelerate growth, reduce mortality, and increase stocking of desirable species. Since the 1920s, silvicultural experimentation has opened opportunities for scientific forest management. Yet only within the last decade has that research begun to assess the consequences of diameter-limit cutting on long-term volume production, to judge whether programs of selective cutting will sustain important ecologic and economic values, and to consider ways for rehabilitating stands to reverse the negative outcomes. This issue of Journal of Forestry addresses that gap of knowledge by publishing a series of four papers that establish a context for understanding the implications of selective cutting in northeastern North America, articulate some of the effects, and suggest options for rehabilitating cutover stands. They evolved through dialogue among silviculturists and ecologists from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York; USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station in Bradley, Maine; University of Maine, School of Forest Resources in Orono, Maine; Ministere des Ressources naturelles du Quebec, Direction de la recherche forestiere in Quebec, QC; Service canadien des forets, Centre canadien sur la fiber de bois, Ressources naturelles Canada in Quebec, QC; and the consulting firm Mason, Bruce & Girard, Inc. in Stockton Springs, Maine. The papers provide a foundation for continued dialogue about exploitative cutting and sustainable forestry wherever landowners have come to use selective harvesting as an alternative to forestry, defined as “. . . creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources for human benefit and in a sustainable manner . . .” (Helms 1998).

The efficacy of landscape-level conservation in Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve, China.

Anthropogenic landscape alteration is rather common in many protected areas (PAs), jeopardizing the efficacy of PAs conservation. However, the general consensus is that PAs still remain effective in habitat conservation. To assess the efficacy of landscape-level conservation, we examined landscape alterations in the Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve (CMBR), which was established in 1960 as a “flagship” protected area in China. Based on analyses of high-resolution satellite images and data of forest inventory, field survey and interview, we developed two new indexes to assess the efficacy of landscape conservation, i.e. the quality index of protected landscape and the interference index of anthropogenic landscape. From 1993 to 2012, the quality index increased from 74.48 to 75.50, and the interference index decreased from 0.49 to 0.06, suggesting that the overall quality of protected landscape improved and the degree of anthropogenic interference decreased in CMBR. The increase in landscape quality was mainly due to the progressive vegetation recovery of previous cutover land in the windthrow area, the cease of the use of the cultivated land, and the amelioration of spatial pattern of protected landscape. We conclude that the current landscape conservation methods used in CMBR are effective, and the method we developed has the potential to be used to assess the efficacy of landscape-level conservation in nature reserves worldwide.

Labouring against the grain of progress: Women's reforestation work in British Columbia, 1960–1975

This article examines the history of women's reforestation work in British Columbia (BC), Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout the era, white working-class women were employed by the government to plant trees on cut-over land. Women's work in BC's forestlands is often obscured by a triumphal discourse that celebrates the rise of white, middle-class contractors and workers as a progressive force in the forestry sector. Through oral histories and interviews with members of the British Columbia Forest Service and the women employed on government planting projects, this article discusses the social positioning of women within the history of reforestation. Building on the work of Geoff Mann and a number of feminist interventions, the article examines how the categories of ‘quality’ and ‘quantity’ played an ideological role in framing women as an atavistic presence in the industry. Finally, following Walter Benjamin's method of historical study, the article rethinks common negative portrayals of women's labour, through considering the progressive moments found within their work and the challenges the women posed to post-war gendered norms of life and work.

A Producers' Republic: Rural Zoning, Land Use, and Citizenship in the Great Lakes Cutover, 1920–1940

THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 40:1 (Spring 2014): 1-26© 2014 Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved A Producers’ Republic: Rural Zoning, Land Use, and Citizenship in the Great Lakes Cutover, 1920-1940 by Joshua Nygren On September 4, 1933, well-known agricultural economist George S. Wehrwein hit the AM airwaves out of Madison, Wisconsin, to demonstrate the common-sense virtues of a new movement in land-use planning: rural zoning. In an effort to illustrate the concept to his audience, Wehrwein used the following “homely illustration”: In winter, pa likes to grease the harness in the house where it is warm. But ma says, ‘All right, pa, you can grease the harness in the house but you must do it in the kitchen.’ And when she can make that stick, she has zoned the house! And we will all agree that when there is a place for everything, and everything is done in its proper place, we will have efficient political economy as well as efficient domestic economy.1 Rural zoning in the Great Lakes countryside applied principles similar to urban zoning by creating districts dedicated solely to agriculture, forestry, recreation, and tourism. As was the case for the once forested cutover lands in Michigan and Minnesota, Wehrwein’s northern Wisconsin had experienced a host of problems since World War I: a depressed agricultural market, widespread tax delinquency, and rising per-capita costs for public schools and roads. Trained experts of Wehrwein’s ilk thought these problems were rooted in a socially backward rural populace and an equally outdated system of land use. In between the two world wars, prevailing ideals of citizenship in the Great Lakes cutover seemed increasingly defunct. The area had 1 George S. Wehrwein, “Why Do We Need to Zone Land?” Transcript of radio program, September 4, 1933, Box 18, Folder 3, George Simon Wehrwein Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society [hereafter Wehrwein Papers]. Wehrwein’s emphasis. 2 The Michigan Historical Review witnessed vast deforestation during the second half of the nineteenth century, and as lumber companies vacated the region they left in their wake millions of acres of stump-riddled lands. Few in fin de siècle America questioned that this region should be put to farming and populated by the paragons of nineteenth-century rural citizenship—yeoman farmers. According to Jeffersonian tradition and mythology, these farmers represented the backbone of the republic, as their individualism and independence from outside forces guarded against corruption and ensured a well-functioning democracy. 2 In the twentieth-century Great Lakes cutover, however, many yeoman farms yielded meager harvests and faced major hardships, leading to farm failures and isolated settlements where many farmers had hoped thriving communities would develop.3 Families remaining in the cutover still required costly services, such as public schooling and road maintenance, and with dwindling population and income these could not be fully subsidized. As a result, county and state budgets became burdened by farm abandonment and tax delinquency. Agricultural economists and other experts who surveyed the situation blamed unwise land use for generating these conditions—especially the sorts of unplanned, “haphazard” land use they considered typical of the individualistic yeoman farmer. Once a strength, the “rugged individualism” of the frontier had apparently 2 In the past two decades, the study of citizenship has become an integral component of US social history. For example, see Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage Books, 2003); Nancy Isenberg, Sex and Citizenship in Antebellum America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998); Alice Kessler-Harris, In Pursuit of Equity: Women, Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in 20th-Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) and “In Pursuit of Economic Citizenship,” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society 10 (Summer 2003): 157-175; Kim Cary Warren, The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880-1935 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010). 3 The classic treatments of nineteenth-century deforestation in the Great Lakes region are Michael Williams, Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), especially 193-237 and William Cronon...

An Unanswerable Argument in Favor of Forests: Progressive Conservation, Compromise, and the 1903 Creation of Michigan's First Forest Reserve

An Unanswerable Argument in Favor of Forests: Progressive Conservation, Compromise, and the 1903 Creation of Michigan’s First Forest Reserve by Joseph J. Jones In the winter of 1894-1895, forester Austin Cary traveled through Michigan and Wisconsin collecting information on the remaining whitepine stands and cutover tracts for the U.S. Division of Forestry.1 During his survey, he measured trees, checked stumps, and studied the soil, topography, and climate. He also assessed damage from fire and grazing in the cutover. After touring Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Cary stopped in Chicago at the offices of the Northwestern Lumberman to report his findings. From this study, he unequivocally concluded that white and Norway pine could be grown in the cutover again. He argued that if fire and grazing were eliminated from the cutover, then young seedlings could take root and thrive. Furthermore, if such work was done immediately, merchantable timber could be harvested in forty years.2 Although agricultural boosters and most lumbermen rejected Cary’s call for reforestation, a group of forestry advocates coalesced around the progressive notion of public, scientific management of the cutover as opposed to private agricultural use. This small cadre of scientists, lumbermen, businessmen, politicians, farmers, and horticulturalists viewed the cutover with concern as homesteads began to revert to the state for unpaid property taxes. They suspected that agricultural boosters exaggerated the promises of farming the former pinery. Furthermore, 1 At various times, “cutover” has been spelled as one word, two words, or as a hyphenated term. For the purposes of simplicity, I use it as one word (both as a noun and an adjective) unless quoting a text that has an alternate spelling. 2 Norway pine is commonly referred to as red pine today. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1895 Report of the Chief of the Division of Forestry (Washington: GPO, 1896), 149-150; “Reforesting Michigan Pine Lands,” Northwestern Lumberman, February 9, 1895, Box 21, Michigan Forests and Forestry folder, USFS Newspaper Clippings File, Forest History Society (FHS), Durham, NC. THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 39:1 (Spring 2013): PP 101-132.©2013 by Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved. 102 The Michigan Historical Review while industrialization balanced agriculture in the economy of southern Michigan, the northern half of the peninsula lagged behind as lumbering declined. Agriculture was not replacing logging as fast as many boosters had anticipated. In response, this body of progressives pushed forestry as the solution to the region’s uncertain future.3 However, the debate was not between extra-local progressive elites and local landowners and businessmen. Supporters of both farming and forest land use could be found throughout Michigan and at every political, economic, and social level. In this evenly divided debate, mediated compromise was the means for creating broad support for the state’s reforestation efforts, especially regarding Michigan’s first forest reserve near Higgins Lake. Early Conservation Politics in Michigan The Republican Party dominated the political landscape of Michigan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Between 1852 and 1933, the Democrats held the governor’s office for only eight years, and the party lacked a statewide organization. Most meaningful political debates, therefore, happened within the Republican Party. Around the turn of the century, the Republican Party split into two factions. Senator James McMillan, a railroad and shipping tycoon from Detroit who had turned his attention and clout to politics, directed the party’s machinery. His party stalwarts served the business interests in the state and were both fiscally and politically conservative. Legislators did not initiate new policies without McMillan’s approval. Progressives comprised the other faction and sought to eliminate government corruption and favoritism to business, to expand municipal and state control of utilities, and to institute scientific management of state lands. The main leaders of this movement were Detroit newspaperman James Scripps, Grand Rapids politician William Alden Smith, and Hazen Pingree, who served terms both as Detroit’s mayor and as Michigan’s governor. As the party stalwarts had little interest in conservation issues, the support for government management of natural resources came from the Progressives.4 3 Norman John Schmaltz, “Cutover Land Crusade: The Michigan Forest Conservation Movement, 1899...

“All That Country Will Be Taken Up by the Thrifty Settler”: Migration, Environment, and the Cutover Lands of Minnesota, USA from the 1890s to the 1930s

Abstract During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the lumber industry in northern Minnesota transformed vast swaths of forested land into lumber products for burgeoning capitalist markets across the United States, a process entailing not only the destruction of old growth pine forests, but the creation of a new (albeit severely degraded) space: the cutover. These lands – marshy, rocky, and now riddled with tree stumps and debris – presented serious economic problems for lumber companies themselves, in the form of tax burdens and the risk of spreading fires to still valuable timbered lands. Lumber companies and boosters promoted the climate and ecology of this region as ideal for agricultural development by migrants of “modest means.” This understanding of the cutover reflected a mix of ideas about nature, climate, and migration as much as it did the ecology of the region itself. By the late 1920s, the dream of these cutover boosters resulted in a landscape of impoverished migrants and abandoned farms across the former lumber regions of both states. When, during the 1930s, New Deal planners examined the cutover and evaluated its climate and ecology they saw its future in radically different terms than boosters had. These spaces, they argued, should be removed from agricultural development and reforested under public control. This case study demonstrates that the ways institutions and individuals think about climate and ecology matters when examining the connection between migration and climate.

Relationships between the age of northern Kantou plain (central Japan) coppice woods used for production of Japanese forest mushroom logs and butterfly assemblage structure

To discern mechanisms maintaining the diversity of grassland and forest butterflies in coppice woods managed for the production of Japanese forest mushroom logs, we investigated the butterfly fauna in cut-over land tracts shortly after felling and 5 year later, and in forest stands 10, 15, and 25 year after felling (here, we use the term “forests” when referring to the chronosequence of these treed stands). Butterfly species richness and diversity (H′) and the densities of individuals were highest in cut-over lands 5 year after clear-cutting, followed by 25-year-old forest stands. In forests, the richness and densities of forest butterfly species were higher than were those of grassland species. Among forest stands of different ages, forest butterfly species’ richness and the densities of individuals were highest in 25-year-old woods nearing felling time. Some forest butterfly species were observed only in forests. The species richness and densities of grassland butterflies were much higher in cut-over lands 0 and 5 year post felling than in forests; grassland species were rarely found in stands ≥10 year old. Thus, cut-over lands seem to function as temporary habitats for grassland species. Furthermore, the number of forest butterfly species was the same in cut-over lands 5 year after felling and in 25-year-old forest stands; the densities of forest butterfly species was higher in these cut-over lands than in the forest stands. Forest butterfly species living on cut-over land 5 year post felling sipped flower nectar, laid eggs on host plants, and practiced territorial behaviour involved in mate finding. Hence, these cut-over lands functioned as important habitats for various developmental stages of forest butterflies. In conclusion, traditional coppicing in woods for production of Japanese forest mushroom logs is very important for the maintenance of diversity in grassland and forest butterfly species.

Pre-EuroAmerican settlement forests in Redwood National Park, California, USA: a reconstruction using line summaries in historic land surveys

Extensive logging in the twentieth century destroyed much of the coniferous forests in the lower Redwood Creek basin of Redwood National Park. Restoration of cutover lands requires the identification of historical, pre-logging reference conditions. Field notes from the original Public Land Surveys were used to reconstruct the pre-EuroAmerican settlement forests. Most reconstructive studies based on historic surveys rely on bearing tree evidence over large areas to determine vegetation patterns over several hundreds to thousands of square kilometers. Due to the small size of the study area (approximately 200 km2), bearing tree evidence could not accurately reconstruct the vegetation at this scale. Instead, lists of the overstory and understory vegetation for each surveyed mile (line summaries) were employed. Analysis of line summaries evidence identified the historical importance, geographical range, and environmental influences on woody species and vegetation communities. Topography, especially elevation, and soil texture were significantly correlated with plot-scale ordination scores derived from non-metric multidimensional scaling. The influence of topography and distance to ocean coast on the historical distribution of dominant woody species concurs with findings from present-day field studies of local and regional old-growth forest. A comparison with present-day vegetation maps revealed that coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), and red alder (Alnus rubra) experienced the most substantive changes in the vegetation as a result of twentieth century land use activities.

The effects of human management on spatial distribution of two bumble bee species in a traditional agro-forestry Satoyama landscape.

SummaryWe examined the relationship between flower preference and the spatial distribution of two Bombus species in a traditional agro-forestry Satoyama landscape where human activities maintain a mosaic of landscape units, including old-growth and secondary forests, conifer plantations, cutover lands (stands 5–7 years after clear-cutting of secondary forests), and paddy fields. Bombus ardens prefers shallow woody flowers, whereas B. diversus tends to forage on herb flowers with long corolla tubes. Bumble bees were collected by window traps at seven types of landscape units. Most B. ardens individuals (77%) were caught at upper forest strata of old-growth stands. B. diversus queens displayed a similar preference for old-growth stands, whereas approximately half of the workers were captured in open land, such as cut-over land and paddy fields. These findings suggest that B. ardens mainly uses old-growth forests, where woody species diversity and woody flower abundance is high, whereas B. diversus visits forest herbs and shrubs until early summer and then spreads into open land to seek autumn-blooming herbs.

Acorn dispersal and predation patterns of four tree species by wood mice in abandoned cut-over land

We compared patterns of acorn dispersal and predation by wood mice among four tree species ( Quercus serrata, Quercus crispula, Castanea crenata, and Juglans mandshurica var. sieboldiana) that are abundant in cool temperate woodlands. We devised an acorn dispersal experiment using 400 magnet-inserted acorns and a magnetic locator in a 1.8-ha study plot, which spanned a cut-over area and an adjacent deciduous forest. Ten wire mesh baskets, each containing 40 acorns (10 acorns per species), were placed on the border between these two habitat types. About 13.0% ( n = 52) of the total acorns remained in the baskets, while 77.3% ( n = 309) were dispersed throughout the study plot and subsequently retrieved using the magnetic locator. Microhabitat, distance, and burial depth of transported acorns were significantly different among species. In the cut-over area, J. mandshurica var. sieboldiana acorns were dispersed under fallen trees or branches and near stumps, and were buried deeply in the soil. Dispersal distances of J. mandshurica var. sieboldiana acorns were significantly greater than those of Q. serrata acorns. The number and microhabitat of transported acorns significantly differed between habitat types. J. mandshurica var. sieboldiana acorns were dispersed in the cut-over area rather than in the forest. For all four species, the numbers of acorns delivered to fallen trees or branches, stumps, and crumbled soil with overhang under any vegetation type were greater in the cut-over area than in the forest.

The role of the wood mouse in Quercus serrata acorn dispersal in abandoned cut-over land

To determine the dispersal and post-dispersal predation patterns of Quercus serrata acorns by wood mice, we performed an acorn dispersal experiment using 1800 magnet-inserted acorns and a magnetic locator in a 1.8-ha study plot, which spanned cut-over land and an adjacent deciduous forest. Eighteen wire mesh baskets, each containing 100 acorns, were placed on the borders between these two habitat types. At the end of the experiment, about 8.0% ( n = 144) of the total acorns remained in the baskets, whereas 81.7% ( n = 1470) were located throughout the study plot using the magnetic locator. A significantly greater number of acorns was dispersed throughout the cut-over land than the forest. However, only six acorns in the cut-over land and three in the forest escaped post-dispersal predation by wood mice to survive until the following spring. In the cut-over land, the acorns were preferentially dispersed near fallen trees or branches, including logs and stumps abandoned after clear-cutting. Therefore, we concluded that woody debris serves as a key microhabitat for acorn dispersal by wood mice; however, most of the dispersed acorns were consumed.

Response of plant functional groups within plantations and naturally regenerated forests in southern New Brunswick, Canada

We examined the composition of understory vascular plant species in managed forests to determine how life-history attributes influence plant response to disturbance. Forest types investigated were plantations on old fields (31–77 years old, n = 6), plantations on cutover land (19–64 years old, n = 8), young forests naturally regenerated after clear-cutting (27–66 years old, n = 6), and mature natural forests with no recent harvesting activity (80–100 years old, n = 6). Species were categorized by habitat preference (forest, intermediate, disturbed), growth form (12 categories), and life form (15 categories). Forest-habitat species dominated both natural stand types, whereas disturbed-habitat species dominated both plantation types. Mature natural stands contained higher frequency and cover of many herb growth forms, and cutover plantations contained higher values for shrubs. Old-field plantations contained low values for all growth forms. Two life forms, geophytes and rosette hemicryptophytes, were not well represented in either plantation type. All plant functional groups were present in each stand type, suggesting that differences among stand types occur as shifts in the relative abundances of functional groups. We hypothesize that some species may be at risk of local extirpation in plantations because of their limited growth rates and reproductive characteristics.

Chronosequential change in a butterfly community after clear‐cutting of deciduous forests in a cool temperate region of central Japan

AbstractTransect counts of butterflies were conducted in the northern part of Ibaraki, central Japan, from 1997 to 2001 at 11 census sites, composed of successive stages of deciduous forest development: grassland (one site, early abandoned stage); cutover land (one site, 1–5 years after clear‐cutting); secondary forests (very young (two sites, 6–9 years), middle (two sites, 16–22 years) and old (two sites, 47–51 years)) and old‐growth natural forests (three sites, ≥124 years old). A total of 86 species and 8858 individual butterflies were recorded by 29 sets (406 times) of transect counts. The species richness (number of species), abundance (number of individuals) and diversity indices (Shannon–Wiener H′ and Simpson's 1–λ) of butterflies were high in the early stages (grassland, cutover land and very young secondary forests) of secondary succession. Typical natural forest species increased with the progress of succession, and the old secondary forests and old‐growth natural forests had similar species composition. In contrast, most of the typical natural grassland species were recorded only in the grassland site. In the cutover land site, the number of individuals of grassland species considerably decreased from the first to the second year; furthermore, only one typical natural grassland species was recorded. Thus, the suitable stage for grassland butterfly species lasts for only 1–2 years after clear‐cutting. Old secondary forests (approximately>50 years old) would be able to give refuge to the forest butterfly species, including typical natural forest species. Based on the results, a practical, forestry‐based plan to conserve butterfly diversity was proposed.

The Pivotal Decade: American Forestry in the 1870s

Abstract In the late 19th century timber companies were cutting their way west, fueling the Industrial Revolution with America's forests and leaving behind vast tracts of cutover land in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. In Prussia and France, forest advocates found national forestry schools and examples of legislation to regulate resource exploitation. Although Marsh, Hough, and Baker lamented their inability to effect large-scale change, their efforts did lead to federal recognition of the problems associated with uncontrolled timber harvests and thus paved the way for the second generation of forestry leaders.