pre-European Settlement Forest Research Articles

Frequency of sprout-origin trees in pre-European settlement forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains

We hypothesized that tree form, recorded in historical public land surveys, would provide a valuable proxy record of regeneration patterns during early-European settlement of North America’s eastern deciduous forest. To test this hypothesis, we tallied stem form from witness trees used in land survey records in the southern Appalachian Mountains from 13 counties spanning four physiographic provinces: Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau. A total of 3% of witness trees used in the land surveys were of sprout origin. American basswood (Tilia americana L.) exhibited the highest proportion of sprout-origin trees at 12%. Other overstory species with a high proportion of sprout-origin trees were hickory (Carya sp.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), and sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.), all with 6% of stems being from sprout origin. Blue Ridge had significantly more sprout-origin trees compared with the other three physiographic provinces. Forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains during the pre-European settlement period had a suite of disturbances that controlled their growth and regeneration; however, most of these disturbances did not result in large-scale tree mortality, and therefore, sprouts were not an important source of regeneration.

Managing for ecosystem services in northern Arizona ponderosa pine forests using a novel simulation-to-optimization methodology

Forest managers are faced with the difficulty of promoting multiple ecosystem services (ES) with an incomplete understanding of the complex ways these ES interact. We developed a quantitative model to help managers better understand the effect of different management options on eight ES over time. These ES were (1) Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) habitat, (2) the harvest of merchantable timber, (3) the harvest of woody biomass for potential conversion to bioenergy, (4) northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) habitat, (5) scenic beauty, (6) fire hazard reduction, (7) carbon storage, and (8) restoration of pre-European settlement forest structure represented through larger quadratic mean diameters (QMD). We integrated production functions for these eight ES with a forest growth-and-yield model to simulate the effects of three management actions over a 45-year period in northern Arizona, USA. We scaled ES values based on their observed maximum and minimum values as a means to compare achievement levels between ES. These scaled ES values were input into a goal-programming model to identify the optimal management regimes given a corresponding set of five different management objectives. The combination of simulation modeling with goal-programming is a novel approach for evaluating ES responses to management and for optimizing ES attainment objectives. To illustrate the value of this novel approach, we designed management objectives to reflect the likely goals a forest manager may choose for each ES in this region. ES goals were distinguished at the forest- and stand-level spatial extents. Results demonstrate the flexibility of the ES optimization model to plan for a variety of situations and preferences. For instance, two ES management goals viewed as conflicting are the protection of Mexican Spotted Owl habitat and the reduction of fire hazard risk. One ES optimization scenario (Scenario 5) produces a plan that reduces area considered as having a high fire hazard from 56% to 7% of the study area in 2015 without any reduction in owl habitat quality throughout the time horizon. We recommend that our methodology be applied and developed further by those in both the research and applied fields of ecosystem sciences.

Forest Policy Impact Assessment in the Ouachita National Forest and the Valuation of Conserving Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers

Problem statement: The Ouachita National Forest received approval in 1996 for an amendment to its Forest Plan that would allocate 10 % of the Forest to long-rotation silviculture. The purpose of the new management area is to restore pr e-European settlement forest conditions and recreate habitat for the endangered red-cockaded wo odpecker. Approach: This study explored the effects of restoring an ecosystem, from changes in the growth patterns of individual trees to ecosyste m valuation of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. It developed procedures for estimating the magnitude of economic impacts resulting from changes in timber production in the pine-bluestem management to project the value of conserving red-c ockaded woodpeckers. Results: Over the entire simulation period, pine-bluestem management returns 75% of the undiscounted revenue generated by traditional management (660 versus 875 million doll ars). For all 40,245 ha of the new management area managed for pine-bluestem, this cost amounts t o $2.9 million per year. When combined with the $137 million decline in the present value of projec ted timber sale revenue from the area, the total co st rises to $4.2 million per year. Conclusion: The implied value for each pair of woodpeckers is either $10,550 per year for the desired 400 total pairs or $16,880 per year for the 250 reproducing pairs. Judging from the changes resulting from the transit ion to pine-bluestem management, adopting the new scenario will not cause significant adverse reg ional economic consequences. The success of the pine-bluestem restoration requires the maintenance of a burning regime that prevents competing vegetation from occupying the middle canopy layer.

The pre-European settlement forest composition of the Miramichi River watershed, New Brunswick, as reconstructed using witness trees from original land surveys

The goal of this investigation was to characterize the pre-European settlement forest composition of the Miramichi River watershed using witness trees to contribute to the definition of a baseline for assessing changes over time in the Acadian forest. The witness tree data were stratified by ecoregion and by ecosite, for the portions of the watershed that are in the Northern Uplands, Continental Lowlands, and Eastern Lowlands ecoregions of New Brunswick, as well as by riparian and inland forest; and pre-settlement forest composition (1787–1847) was compared with current forest composition (1998–2000). The witness tree data constitute evidence that a distinctive riparian forest existed before European settlement and that the difference between riparian and inland forest has lessened. They show that the proportions of Betula spp., Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière, Ulmus americana L., and Thuja occidentalis L. have decreased; that the proportion of Acer spp. has increased and that Picea spp. and Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. var. balsamea have maintained their overall dominance of the forest in number of individuals, and have increased it on at least 50% of the watershed area.

Modeling and spatial prediction of pre-settlement patterns of forest distribution using witness tree data

At the time of European settlement, land surveys were conducted progressively westward throughout the United States. Outside of the original 13 colonies, surveys generally followed the Public Land Survey system in which trees, called witness trees, were regularly recorded at 1 mi by 1 mi grid intersections. This unintentional sampling provides insight into the composition and structure of pre-European settlement forests, which is used as baseline data to assess forest change following settlement. In this paper, a model for the Public Land Surveys of east central Alabama is developed. Assuming that the locations of trees of each species are realized from independent Poisson processes whose respective log intensities are linear functions of environmental covariates (i.e., elevation, landform, and physiographic province), the species observed at the survey grid intersections are independently sampled from a generalized logistic regression model. If all 68 species found in the survey were included, the model would be highly over-parameterized, so only the distribution of the most common taxon, pines, will be considered at this time. To assess the impact of environmental factors not included in the model, a hidden Gaussian random field shall be added as a random effect. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for Bayesian inference on model parameters, and for Bayes posterior prediction of the spatial distribution of pines in east central Alabama.

Native American influences on the forest composition of the Allegheny Plateau, northwest Pennsylvania

We integrate witness tree distribution, Native American archaeological sites, and geological and topographic variables to investigate the relationships between Native American populations and pre-European settlement forest types on the Allegheny Plateau, northwest Pennsylvania. Detrended correspondence analysis of witness tree data separated the presettlement forests into oak–hickory–chestnut and beech–hemlock–maple communities. Oak, hickory, and chestnut forests were centered on Native American village sites. Using archaeological data, an index of Native American influence (NAI) was derived to reflect the intensity of Native American land use across the landscape. In a comparison among species, mean NAI value of oak, hickory, and chestnut trees was significantly higher than that of beech, maple, and hemlock. Logistic regression demonstrated that among geology type, landform, elevation, aspect, slope, and NAI, NAI was by far the most significant predictor of oak, hickory, and chestnut distribution. Although cause and effect of this relationship cannot be tested, we suggest that long-term Native American activity selected for the disturbance-adapted oak, hickory, and chestnut. We contend that Native American agriculture, burning, and resource extraction could have converted maple–beech–hemlock to oak–hickory–chestnut, or at least reinforced the dominance of this forest type.

Nineteenth Century Lumber Surveys for Bangor, Maine: Implications for Pre-European Settlement Forest Characteristics in Northern and Eastern Maine

Abstract In the mid-19th century, Bangor, Maine, was a major center for the manufacturing and shipping of lumber, leading many to proclaim Bangor as the ”lumber capital of the world.” The raw material for this lumber was transported down the Penobscot River, which drains the largest watershed in Maine. Starting in 1832, lumber put up for sale and shipped from Bangor was surveyed. Between 1832 and 1872, over 3.36 billion board feet (bbf) of white pine lumber was tallied. In the 19th century, there were numerous inefficiencies and losses involved in the harvesting, transporting, and processing that converted a standing pine tree to lumber ready to be loaded on a ship; therefore, the 3.36 bbf surveyed provides only a minimum estimate for the volume of white pine in the pre-European settlement forest of northern and eastern Maine. Even this minimum volume estimate for pine suggests a magnitude of this resource that is inconsistent with descriptions developed from early land survey information and suggests that current interpretations of the pre-European disturbance regime may need re-evaluation.

A Witness Tree Analysis of the Effects of Native American Indians on the Pre-European Settlement Forests in East-Central Alabama

Witness tree data from the southeastern United States (lat 33°30' N, long 86°30' W) were analyzed using catchment and distance analysis to quantify the effects of Native American settlement on the composition of forest trees. Thirty Creek Indian villages comprising 18 settlement catchments were included in the sample, which is the largest Native American–forest interaction study using witness trees to date. Lower frequencies of Pinus spp. were observed within village catchments of the Coastal Plain and Ridge and Valley. Elevated frequencies of early succession species were observed surrounding 2 km village catchments. Distance analysis at two relatively isolated towns showed that Pinus increases in frequency beyond 2000 m from villages while Carya had the opposite result. Field and fruit species were more frequent within 6000 m of villages and then dropped off in frequency. Fire-sensitive tree species appear to be in a spatially cyclical pattern.

INFLUENCES OF NATIVE AMERICANS AND SURVEYOR BIASES ON METES AND BOUNDS WITNESS-TREE DISTRIBUTION

Witness trees recorded in surveyors' notes have been extensively used to describe presettlement forest vegetation throughout eastern North America. Relatively few studies, however, have discussed surveying inconsistencies that could affect the quality of witness-tree data in Colonial metes and bounds surveys. To increase the accuracy of these data, we developed techniques to quantify and mitigate the effects of several irregularities in metes and bounds witness-tree data using Lancaster County, southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, as a model. Irregularities included unequal sampling intensities among regions of contrasting topographic relief, and on a finer scale, unequal sampling among landform classes. We mitigated the effects of these inconsistencies by subdividing the study area into physiographic (topographic) sections, and then subdividing each physiographic section into landform classes before witness-tree analysis. Pre-European settlement forests were dominated by Quercus velutina and Q. alba, with Carya spp. in regions of low topographic relief and Castanea dentata in regions of high topographic relief. We then assessed the effects of Native Americans using catchment analysis in which we tallied witness trees within 5 and 7 km of Susquehannock village sites and compared the forest composition to edaphically similar catchment areas of low Native American activity. Elevated frequencies of Carya spp., Juglans spp., and Robinia pseudoacacia, with depressed frequencies of Quercus alba, occurred on sites with a history of Native American occupation, possibly as a result of disturbance or active cultivation. Together, bias-correction techniques and catchment analysis greatly extend the usefulness of witness-tree data by improving methods for evaluating pre- and post-European settlement disturbance on forest change.

Predicting the Potential Future Distribution of Four Tree Species in Ohio Using Current Habitat Availability and Climatic Forcing

We investigated the effect of habitat loss on the ability of trees to shift in distribution across a landscape dominated by agriculture. The potential distribution shifts of four tree species (Diospyros virginiana, Oxydendron arboreum, Pinus virginiana, Quercus falcata var. falcata) whose northern distribution limits fall in the southern third of Ohio were used to assess possible distribution shift scenarios as a result of global warming. Our predictions derive from the results of simulations using (a) forest inventory based estimates of current distribution and abundance of target species; (b) a satellite-based estimate of forest habitat availability; and (c) a tree migration model (SHIFT). The current distribution and abundance of trees was estimated using USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory Analysis data and distribution maps from the late 1960s; pre-European settlement forest–nonforest maps were used to represent the fully forested condition for calibration and comparison. Habitat-availability estimates in Ohio were estimated using classified Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data from 1994. Tree abundance, forest availability and migration were modeled using a 1-km 2 pixel size. Forest

The Red Maple Paradox

O ne of the most dramatic changes that has occurred in forests of eastern North America during the twentieth century is the increase in the dominance of red maple (Acer rubrum L.; Lorimer 1984, Abrams 1992). Red maple has become nearly ubiquitous across sites of widely varying light, moisture, and nutrient availability. This distribution is in stark contrast to the limited distribution of red maple reported in pre-European settlement forests, where it occurred mainly in poorly drained areas. Red maple has increased after a wide range of disturbances and as a late successional species in many forest types. It now dominates the understory and mid-canopy of many oak (Quercus), pine (Pinus), and northern hardwood forests; moreover, it will probably continue to increase in dominance in the overstory during the next century, causing widespread replacement of the historically dominant trees of the forests of the eastern United States. Surprisingly, red maple exhibits rather modest levels of leaf physiological responses (e.g., gas exchange and osmotic adjustment) to various environmental conditions and has leaf structural characteristics and nitrogen levels that are not particularly conducive to a robust leaf physi-

Impact of Human Activity on Regional Forest Composition and Dynamics in Central New England

Historical and ecological data from north-central Massachusetts suggest that widespread and intensive human disturbance after European settlement led to a shift in forest composition and obscured regional patterns of species abundance. A paleoecological approach was required to place recent forest dynamics in a long-term context. Pollen and charcoal data from 11 small lakes in north-central Massachusetts were used to reconstruct local vegetation dynamics and fire histories across the region over the past 1000 years. The sites are located across an environmental gradient. Paleoecological data indicate that prior to European settlement, there was regional variation in forest composition corresponding to differences in climate, substrate, and fire regime. Oak, chestnut, and hickory were abundant at low elevations, whereas hemlock, beech, sugar maple, and yellow birch were common at high elevations. Fire appears to have been more frequent and/or intense at lower elevations, maintaining high abundances of oak, and archaeological data suggest Native American populations were greater in these areas. A change in forest composition at higher elevations, around 550 years before present, may be related to the Little Ice Age (a period of variable climate), fire, and/or activity by Native Americans, and led to regional convergence in forest composition. After European settlement, forest composition changed markedly in response to human disturbance and there was a sharp increase in rates of vegetation change. Regional patterns were obscured further, leading to homogenization of broad-scale forest composition. There is no indication from the pollen data that forests are returning to pre-European settlement forest composition, and rates of vegetation change remain high, reflecting continuing disturbance on the landscape, despite regional reforestation.

Vegetation–site relationships of witness trees (1780–1856) in the presettlement forests of eastern West Virginia

Witness tree data from 1780–1856 for the Monongahela National Forest in eastern West Virginia were analyzed with respect to physiographic unit (Ridge and Valley versus Allegheny Mountains) and landform, and compared with present-day forest composition. Contingency table analysis and standardized residuals were used to quantify the preference or avoidance of common tree species with various landforms. Pre-European settlement forests in the Ridge and Valley were dominated by mixed oak (Quercusalba L., Quercusprinus L., Quercusvelutina Lam. and Quercusrubra L.), Pinus spp., Castaneadentata (Marsh.) Borkh., and Carya on ridge sites and Q. alba, Acersaccharum Marsh., Pinus, Tiliaamericana L., and Tsugacanadensis (L.) Carr. on valley floors. The original forests in the Allegheny Mountains were dominated by Fagusgrandifolia Ehrh., T. canadensis, A. saccharum, Acerrubrum L., Betula spp., and Pinus, with predominantly Fagus–Tsuga–Pinus forests on mountain tops and Tsuga–Acer–Betula forests on valley floors. Compared with the presettlement era, present-day forests on both physiographic units lack overstory C. dentata and have decreased Pinus and (or) Q. alba. Species that have increased substantially following Euro-American settlement include Q. prinus, Q. rubra, Quercuscoccinea Muenchh., and A. rubrum in the Ridge and Valley and Prunusserotina Ehrh., A. rubrum, and Betula spp. in the Allegheny Mountains. These dramatic changes in forest composition were attributed to the chestnut blight (caused by Endothiaparasitica (Murrill) P.J. Anderson & H.W. Anderson), widespread logging, intensive wildfires, and more recently, fire exclusion.

Pre-European Settlement Forest Communities of the Talladega Mountains, Alabama

The pre-European-settlement forests of the Talladega Mountains in eastern Alabama were analyzed using the 1832 U.S. General Land Office Survey records. The surveyors identified and marked the positions of trees at each township section and quarter-section corner. An examination of the relative densities of tree species was used to reconstruct the composition of forest communities on different topographic sites. The results indicate a pattern of gradation from species-rich hardwood forests found in shaded bottomland sites to species-poor pine forests occurring on ridgetops. The ridgetops have shallow, coarse soils with poor moisture-holding capacity. In contrast, the bottomland sites have much deeper soils that generally have a higher moisture-holding capacity. The differences between soil and litter moisture between these sites probably led to differences in the frequency of fire, which was a major factor controlling forest-stand development and community composition.

Pre-European Settlement Forest Composition in East New Jersey and Southeastern New York

A total of 5059 witness trees were counted from survey reports of unappropriated lands in 23 tallies from 14 towns and 13 counties of southeastern New York and East New Jersey. Southeastern New York and northern East New Jersey were dominated by oak, particularly white, red and black oaks, with hickory and chestnut common. Pre-European settlement forests in southern East New Jersey were dominated by oak and pine with cedar and maple, probably the species white cedar and red maple, common in some areas. Cedar was unrepresented in two of five S East Jersey tallies which encompass the modern white cedar-red maple swamp forest areas, while maple was common only in one of the tallies. Distribution of modern forest types and fossil pollen records were consistent with witness tree counts for oak and pine. As compared to pollen records, four tallies overrepresented walnut and underrepresented hickory.