Overstory species composition, structure, and conservation challenges of a mature, natural-origin pine stand after decades of management

  • Sites: US-Cst
  • Don C. Bragg (2016) Overstory species composition, structure, and conservation challenges of a mature, natural-origin pine stand after decades of management, Southeastern Naturalist, 15(Special Issue 9), 16-41.
  • Funding Agency: USDA Forest Service

  • This study provides a preliminary assessment of 4 compartments on the Crossett
    Experimental Forest (CEF) being restored to old-growth-like conditions. After being
    partially cleared for agriculture or lumbered in the late 1910s, Compartments 1, 2, 11, and
    12 were included in a combination of pulpwood-thinning and uneven-aged cutting-cycle
    studies for the next 50 y. Today, these compartments are overwhelmingly comprised of large
    Pinus taeda (Loblolly Pine) and Pinus echinata (Shortleaf Pine). A mixture of 22 other species
    comprise the remainder, primarily in small-diameter stems. Of the 139 ring-counted
    trees, similarly-sized Shortleaf Pines were significantly older than Loblolly Pines. Current,
    live-tree oven-dry biomass in Compartments 1, 2, 11, and 12 approaches 200 Mg/ha, or
    approximately twice that historically reported for old-growth pine. The effects of decades
    of conventional silviculture, the limited occurrence of fire, and a lack of pine (especially
    Shortleaf Pine) regeneration are conservation concerns related to this long-term study.


  • https://www.eaglehill.us/SENAonline/articles/SENA-sp-9/12-Bragg.shtml