Old-growth forest landscape transitions from pre-European settlement to present

Abstract

We conducted a multi-temporal spatial analysis of forest cover for a 9600 ha landscape in northern Wisconsin, U.S.A., using data from pre-European settlement (1860s), post-settlement (1931), and current (1989) periods. Using GIS we have shown forest landscape changes and trajectories that have been generally described in aggregate for the norther Great Lake States region. We created the pre-European settlement map from the witness tree data of the original federal General Land Office survey notes. The 1931 cover was produced from the Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory, and the 1989 cover map was based on color infrared photography. We used GIS to analyze 1) land area occupied by different forest types at different dates, 2) temporal transitions between dates and their driving proceses, and 3) successional trajectories with landforms and spatial associations of forest types. Over the 120 year period, forest cover has changed from a landscape dominated by old-growth hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and hardwood forests (Acer saccharum, Betula alleghaniensis) to largely second-growth hardwoods and conifers. The former dominant hemlock is largely eliminated from the landscape. From 1860 to 1931, large-scale disturbances associated with logging were the dominant processes on the landscape. Early successional forest types covered much of the landscape by the 1930s. From 1931 to 1989, succession was the dominant process driving forest transitions as forest types succeeded to a diverse group of upland hardwood and conifer forest types. If successional trajectories continue, a more homogeneous landscape may develop comprised of both a northern hardwood type dominated by sugar maple, and a boreal conifer/hardwood forest.

Presettlement forest in southern Ontario: Ecosystems measured through a cultural prism

“…Thus, hemlock, beech and maple stands are more common than pine-dominated stands, and this is even more apparent in the aggregate area of 150+ year stands. The process of transition from old-growth forest to such postsettlement forest has been addressed by White and Mladenoff (1994).…”

Stand history and its consequences for the present and future dynamic in two silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) stands in the high Pesio Valley (Piedmont, Italy)

“…Natural disturbance regimes have been replaced by disturbances, caused by people, that are linked to economic and social development [45]. Consequently, land-use and forest-use history is a fundamental determinant in shaping vegetative composition and stand structure in forests, and this cultural legacy has important implications for the present-day structure and composition of forest ecosystems and for the present and future forest management [15,16,40,58,48].…”

The presettlement hardwood forests and wildlife of Algonquin Provincial Park: A synthesis of historic evidence and recent research

“…Catastrophic blowdown, however, is also a relatively uncommon event (Canham and Loucks 1984) and in fact large-scale disturbance of northern hardwoods is rare (Lorimer and Frelich 1994). The forest landscape was thus relatively intact and various authors have placed the stand destruction interval for northern hardwood forests (from either fire or windthrow or both) at; 800-3800 years (average 1210 years) (Canham and Loucks 1984), 1200-2400 years (White and Mladenoff 1994), 1266 years (Loucks 1983), 1920-4545 years (Frelich and Lorimer 1991b) and 450-4970 years (Fahey and Reiners 1981) and "many centuries or even a millennium" (Bormann and Lickens 1979). A site probably grew four or five generations of trees before being blown down (Canham and Loucks 1984).…”

“…The historic loss of the coniferous component of eastern forests, and in particular of hemlock, is widely recognized (Runkle 1985a, Whitney 1987, Abrams and McCay 1996. White and Mladenoff (1994) documented the decline of hemlock in Wisconsin and stated that "the presettlement pattern of hemlock forests may be irretrievably lost. "…”