Seventh Eastern Old

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HOW DO LIANAS FIT INTO DEFINITIONS OF OLD-GROWTH FLOODPLAIN FORESTS?

B.P. Allen¹, P.C. Goebel², and R.R. Sharitz³

¹ Department of Natural Resources, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43021
² School of Natural Resources, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 43210
³ University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802

Existing models of floodplain forest development ignore the influence of large woody vines on forest development patterns. Are dense liana populations associated with disturbed forests or do liana density and size increase with forest age? Are these ideas mutually exclusive? Liana communities in non-fragmented old-growth forests in Panama and across the Neotropics have increased in size and density over the last two decades of the 20th century. Are similar changes occurring in temperate floodplain forests? Evidence from long-term studies of liana communities in two floodplain forests in South Carolina support the findings from tropical forests. If lianas are increasing in importance in undisturbed old-growth forests, how does this affect models of forest development and definitions of old-growth forests? Increases in liana density and size suggest that lianas are important indicators of forest development and should be included in models of temperate bottomland forest dynamics.

DOCUMENTATION AND PRESERVATION OF EXCEPTIONAL OLD-GROWTH EASTERN HEMLOCK
IN GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK:
A PRESERVATION PROJECT COMPLEMENTING NATIONAL PARK SERVICE TREATMENT EFFORTS

Will F. Blozan and Jess D. Riddle

Eastern Native Tree Society

Under the guidance of the Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS) we will locate, measure, document, and chemically treat exceptionally large eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) trees in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM). The threat from hemlock woolly adelgid to decimate the finest remaining hemlock groves served as the impetus for this project. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) and Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) were both devastated by introduced diseases prior to collection of substantial ecological data, but the opportunity remains to avoid this fate with hemlock and save exemplary stands. This project will complement the current preservation efforts of the National Park Service. The data collected can serve as the basis for future restoration efforts, and the stands preserved in this project will establish a living legacy of a vanished species for future generations. After extensive reconnaissance, the fifteen largest and fifteen tallest trees will be chemically treated with imidacloprid to control hemlock woolly adelgid, and when present, surrounding hemlocks will be treated as well. The largest and tallest trees will be climbed, measured, and modeled for total displacement volume. The surrounding groves will be surveyed for various environmental parameters that may indicate or predict superlative growing conditions. The resulting information will be compiled and organized into a database, a comprehensive report, and a book complete with descriptions of individual trees, accounts of their discoveries, in-canopy photographs, and anatomically accurate artistic renderings. This point in time is the last opportunity to obtain historical documentation of individual trees and gather data on these extraordinary hemlock forests while they remain in a state of reasonable health. We emphasize that this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Most of the giant hemlocks will probably die within five years. Hence, we now have the opportunity to forever put the great eastern hemlock forests into the historical record and bolster the case for preserving as much as we can. Time is a major issue because, quite simply, the hemlocks cannot wait.

CHANGES IN OLD-GROWTH FORESTS AND POTENTIAL IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER, CAMPEPHILUS PRINCIPALIS, HABITAT IN EASTERN TEXAS

D. Brent Burt¹, Priscilla F. Coulter², Clifford E. Shackelford³, D. Craig Rudolph⁴,
and James A. Neal⁵

¹ Department of Biology, Stephen F. Austin State University, P.O. Box 13003, Nacogdoches, TX 75962
² Ralph W. Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University, P.O. Box 13055, Nacogdoches, TX 75962
³ Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 3000 S-IH 35, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78704
⁴ U. S. Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 506 Hayter St., Nacogdoches, TX 75965
⁵ U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 506 Hayter St., Nacogdoches, TX 75965

Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, in Arkansas has sparked interest in surviving forested wetland habitat and the associated distribution of other potential Ivory-billed Woodpecker populations. The westernmost historic range of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker coincided with the once-extensive forested wetlands of eastern Texas, now substantially reduced due to logging begun in the late 1800's. However, as recently as the late 1960s, Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings were reported in the Big Thicket of eastern Texas. Recordings from the Big Thicket, made in 1968 and analyzed in 2005 by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, could not be eliminated as calls of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Historic changes in suitable Ivory-billed Woodpecker habitat (both baldcypress [Taxodium distichum]-water tupelo [Nyssa aquatica] and associated bottomland hardwood forests) in eastern Texas are documented and sites of mature forested wetlands with the greatest likelihood of potential use by Ivory-billed Woodpeckers are identified. These areas represent the highest priority sites for future Ivory-billed Woodpecker surveys in Texas.

SPATIAL AND AGE STRUCTURE OF OLD-GROWTH MOUNTAIN LONGLEAF PINE, PINUS PALUSTRIS, STANDS IN THE TALLADEGA NATIONAL FOREST OF NORTHEASTERN ALABAMA

Robert Carter, Kevin Jenné, and Brett Rushing

Department of Biology, Jacksonville State University, AL

The spatial and age structure of four old-growth mountain longleaf pine stands was examined to determine recruitment patterns. To determine tree age, standard coring techniques were performed that consisted of strategic coring, drying, mounting and sanding of each core. The distance and angle between each tree was also measured. Spatial analysis revealed clumping of individuals relate to tree age. The clumpings can be related to past anthropogenic changes such as the Trail of Tears and land acquisitions by government agencies.

AN OLD-GROWTH MIXED-MESOPHYTIC FOREST ON THE MID-CUMBERLAND PLATEAU IN TENNESSEE: HISTORY AND RECENT CHANGES

Stacy L. Clark¹, Scott J. Torreano², Callie J. Schweitzer¹, Luben Dimov³

¹ USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, P.O. Box 1387, Normal, AL 35762
² The University of the South, Forestry and Geology Department, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383
³ Alabama A&M University, Center for Forestry and Ecology, P.O. Box 1927, Normal, AL 35762

We reconstructed the stand history and recent vegetation changes in a 100 acre old-growth forest located on the escarpment of the mid Cumberland Plateau near Sewanee, Tennessee. The area was first described in 1903 by John Foley, a field assistant under Gifford Pinchot, in the former Bureau of Forestry. The stand was later intensively studied in 1982 by the USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Experiment Station, to document the mortality episode that killed approximately 20 percent of the dominant Quercus and Carya species. Quercus and Carya species were underrepresented in the understory and were predicted to be replaced by shade-tolerant competitors, primarily Acer saccharum. In June 2005, we reexamined the vegetation in a subset of the original Forest Service plots and collected increment cores from dominant Quercus rubra trees. Our objectives were to determine species composition changes 23 years after the mortality event and to reconstruct age structure of the dominant tree species. We present evidence for major species composition changes in the absence of future disturbances. Response to disturbances by the dominant species, Quercus rubra, will be presented. We hypothesize that the potential for this forest to maintain current Quercus composition may be lost under the current disturbance regime.

THE TUPELO HUNTER IS LOOKING FOR THE ISLANDS OLDEST TREES

Daniel Karpen

3 Harbor Hill Drive, Huntington, NY 11743

Tramping through the Massapequa Preserve in his signature clogs, Daniel Karpen says he can tell the age of black tupelo trees by their bark patterns, like this black tupelo that Karpen thinks is over 300 years old. The trees on preserves are safe, but Karpen also hopes to save those not on protected land. Karpen surveys a wooded area near his house in Lloyd Harbor. Surrounded by walnut seedlings, Karpen cracks a black walnut with the back of an ax on his living room floor.; Tree man Daniel Karpen is on a mission - to find and save the Island's oldest black tupelos. Karpen takes the measure of a tree in Massapequa Preserve.

ANCIENT FORESTS OF THE BLUE RIDGE PROVINCE

Josh Kelly

Botanist, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, 556 Black Pine Ridge Road, Marshall, NC 28753

Since 1994 Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition (SAFC) and other citizen's groups have worked to document and protect old-growth forests in the Southern Blue Ridge Eco-region. Field work was performed primarily in National Forests and is a continuation of a process that was started in the mid 1990's by Western North Carolina Alliance. Since 2003 botanist Josh Kelly has performed field surveys for old-growth forests in the Blue Ridge Province for SAFC. The process of delineating sites relied on GPS units and altimeters to hand-draw boundaries over USGS 7.5' Quads to create maps that were later entered into a GIS database. Community typing, tree aging with the use of increment bores, and visual assessment of old-growth characteristics has been the methodology for description and documentation of individual sites. This project has revealed that old-growth forests, totaling over 263,000 acres and representing numerous forest types, are present in every major mountain range in the Blue Ridge.

OLD-GROWTH FOREST REMNANTS IN EASTERN TEXAS

James A. Neal¹, D. Craig Rudolph², and Richard R. Schaefer²

¹ USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, 506 Hayter St., Nacogdoches, TX 75965
² USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Nacogdoches, TX 75965

Very little of the pre-European forest ecosystems survive in the West Gulf Coastal Plain of eastern Texas. Only 6-7 remnants sites remain ranging in size from a few hectares to approximately 1250 hectares. Other small patches of old growth undoubtedly exist, but have not been sufficiently documented. Representative sample forests include longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), shortleaf pine (P. echinata)-hardwood, American beech (Fagus grandifolia)-southern magnolia (Magnolia grandifolia), mesic hardwoods, bottomland hardwood, baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), and baldcypress-water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica). Major forest types; including upland hardwoods, shortleaf pine savannah, and various forest types with a loblolly pine component; have no known old growth examples in eastern Texas. Several of these sites have been substantially degraded because of the alteration of pre-European fire or hydrological regimes. All of these sites remain highly vulnerable to future alteration and disturbance. The continued survival of these remnants would be enhanced by restoration or maintenance of an appropriate fire regime, control of exotic vegetation, and maintenance of forested buffer zones. These sites are of inestimable value as refugia for rare and threatened species, as outdoor laboratories for research, and as historic examples of the pre-European forested landscape.

AN ANCIENT BALDCYPRESS - TUPELO STAND AT THE NORTHEASTERN RANGE LIMIT, NOTTOWAY RIVER, VIRGINIA

K. D. Patterson¹, G. P. Fleming¹, and B. Carmean²

¹Virginia Department of Conservaton and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA 23219

² 3616 Labarador Lane, Suffolk, VA 23434

An exceptional old-growth baldcypress - tupelo swamp forest has been documented along the Nottoway River in southeastern Virginia. Ecologists with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage and a cooperator documented six new state and national champion trees in the 37-acre stand. Plot data collected from a 1/4-acre quadrat and extrapolated for the overall stand suggest that the average density of trees greater than two feet DBH is approximately 71/acre. The average density of individuals greater than five feet DBH is approximately 21/acre. The largest individuals are between ten and 12 feet in diameter. Circumference, height, and average crown spread were measured for the largest specimens of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), swamp tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), overcup oak (Quercus lyrata), Carolina ash (Fraxinus carolina), and swamp cottonwood (Populus heterophylla) following protocols of the American Forests National Register of Big Trees. Although age studies have not yet been conducted, similar baldcypress between 6 and 8 feet DBH on the nearby Blackwater River have been aged at 600-800 years old. Given that virtually all baldcypress - tupelo forests in the southeastern United States have been logged, we believe this stand is of great regional significance despite its small acreage.

LOCATING POTENTIAL OLD-GROWTH FORESTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY

Neil Pederson¹, Ben Poulter², and Marc Evans³

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475
² Research Scientist, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
³ Ecology Program Manager, Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, Frankfort, KY 40601

Old-growth forests provide many benefits to society such as being home to genetic diversity that some day be useful for medical or agricultural science or magnets for ecotourism. Just as important, old-growth forests are still revealing natural history information that will help guide ecosystem restoration and management plans. Such information is especially important during this time of rapid environmental change biological extinction, especially in the biologically diverse region of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Kentucky, however, is still relatively unexplored compared to most states east of the Great Plains. For example, Blanton Forest, a 2200+ acres tract of old-growth forest, was 'discovered' just over a decade ago. The goal of our study is to identify potential tract of old-growth forest in Kentucky by applying the Stahle and Chaney (1994) model for the prediction of old-growth forests. We'll compare this map of potential old-growth forest versus a current list of well-known old-growth sites. The map of potential old-growth forests will also be used as a guide for exploration for the fledgling Kentucky Old-Growth Society. This map will also act a guide for the landscape health of the commonwealth of Kentucky because it will be one way to quantify the amount of altered land in the region.