Historical Context for Forest Management in New England

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Historical Context for Forest Management in New
England
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Pre-Settlement 1600
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Early Homestead 1740
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Height of Clearing 1830
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Abandonment 1850
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Old Field White Pine 1910
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Hardwood release and succession 1915
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Young hardwoods 1930
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Stand Improvement Cutting
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Commercial Thinning
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Shelterwood Harvest
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Forest Cover Trends in New England Since European
Settlement
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Wildlife Population Trends in VT and NH Since
European Settlement
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Altered Successional Pathways Resulting from a
Complex History of Land-use
Figure from Foster (1992)
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Differences Between Pre-Settlement and Current
Forests in VT and NH
Forest Composition

• Species Abundance
• Chestnut
• Elm
• Beech
• Sugar Maple
• Hemlock
• White Pine
• Red Spruce
• White Birch
• Cottonwood
• Pin Cherry
• Red Maple

Communities Abundance Old-Growth Forest
of All Types Floodplain Silver Maple and Sugar
Maple Rich Lowland Oak/Basswood/Ash Forested
Wetlands Native Grasslands and Shrublands
Functionally Extirpated
Sources Cogbill (2000) McLachlan et al.
(2000) Fuller et al. 1998 Foster 1992
Siccama (1971)
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Differences Between Pre-Settlement and Current
Forests in VT and NH
Landscape Pattern

• Patch Size
• Patch Shape Complexity
• Fragmentation vs. Connectivity
• Bottomland Openings
• Ridgeline and Upper-Slope Openings
• Topographic Distribution of White Pine
• Topographic Distribution of Red Spruce

Sources Cogbill (2000) Mladenoff and Pastor
(1993)