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History

Southern forested wetlands have undergone natural and human-induced disturbances for thousands of years. These disturbances have led to the species-rich flora and fauna found in these ecosystems today. Even before prehistoric humans arrived in the South, geologic changes due to plate tectonics, Appalachian Mountain uplift and subsequent erosion, rising sea levels, and the advance and retreat of glaciers resulted in ecological changes, species migrations, and shifts in community composition. Warmer climates, beginning about 16,000 years ago, caused southern forests to shift from predominantly northern softwood forests to forests dominated by oaks and hickories (Delcourt and others 1993). These climate changes and concomitant sea level rise caused many wetlands to form due to rises in water tables, which often inundated river valleys. Pre-European settlement forests were diverse, with varying tree ages interspersed with openings providing habitat for a diverse range of wildlife (Dickson 1991). Fire, ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, insects, and diseases disturbed these ecosystems and influenced forest composition (Askins 2001).

In addition to the long-term geologic and climatic changes and the frequent natural disturbances (primarily storms and fire), Native Americans impacted southern forested wetlands by settling and farming the fertile and tillable floodplains from the Little Tennessee River to the Mississippi River (Delcourt and others 1993). Forests were cleared not only for agriculture but also for firewood and stockades. Cleared areas were also burned regularly to prepare them for planting (Wigley and Roberts 1997). In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, 80 percent of Native Americans in the South died due to diseases brought by early European explorers. One result was a decline of the Native American agricultural system. Agricultural fields were abandoned, and tree growth became established on many acres of forested wetland and upland (chapter 24). Consequently, the forest vegetation encountered by southern colonists in the mid-1700s was the result of thousands of years of geologic, climatic, and human influence. Growth of forest stands that regenerated after climatic and biologic disturbances and Native American abandonment affected forest composition and age at the time of European settlement. For instance, in the Coastal Plain, abandoned agricultural fields probably supported extensive tracts of pure pine (Allen and others 1996). The forests encountered in the 1700s were not the vast, unbroken expanses of giant trees romantically portrayed early in the 19^th century (Delcourt and others 1993, Wigley and Roberts 1997). Many were young stands resulting from natural and human-induced disturbances. The flora and fauna of these ecosystems were and are adapted to disturbance. In the case of mineral-soil pine flats, they require fire to maintain them. Therefore, disturbance is a natural and often forgotten component of forested wetland systems that is necessary in considering their restoration.