The Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest is an 88-acre oak-hickory forest located in Orange County, Indiana, near Paoli. Identified as a surviving fragment of virgin Central Hardwood forest, a woodland type that largely vanished in the 1800s, it is a National Natural Landmark within the Hoosier National Forest. [1]
The old-growth woodlot is characterized by mature stands of white ash, white oak, tuliptree, and black walnut. The United States Forest Service (USFS) has measured several of these trees at 60 feet to the first limb and 50 inches in diameter at breast height. As many of these trees were harvested in pioneer times for firewood or construction timber, the Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest was a valuable relic by the time it was set aside for conservation in 1944. [1]
The Forest Service credits preservation of the mature woodlot to the Cox family. The land was patented in 1816 by Joseph Cox. Unlike most other timbered lands of southern Indiana, the Cox family never harvested the forest during the 124-year duration of family ownership. Upon the death of the last Cox owner in 1940, a preservation effort led to support for purchase of the land by the Forest Service. The USFS continues to manage the parcel for research and recreation purposes. Studies of the forest tract have uncovered a Native American bottomland village area with archeological remains dating to approximately 1380 CE. A 1.3-mile hiking trail is open to the public. [2]
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages 193 million acres (780,000 km2) of land. Major divisions of the agency include the Chief's Office, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations, and Research and Development. The agency manages about 25% of federal lands and is the only major national land management agency not part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which manages the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
A woodland is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood, a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher density areas of trees with a largely closed canopy that provides extensive and nearly continuous shade are often referred to as forests.
Quercus palustris, the pin oak or swamp Spanish oak, is an oak in the red oak section. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance. Its distinctive shape is considered unique among hardwoods.
Pinus strobus, commonly denominated the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, United States, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and perhaps very rarely in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama.
Betula nigra, the black birch, river birch or water birch, is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas. It is one of the few heat-tolerant birches in a family of mostly cold-weather trees which do not thrive in USDA Zone 6 and up. B. nigra commonly occurs in floodplains and swamps.
The Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest is a 1,530,647-acre (6,194.31 km2) U.S. National Forest in northern Wisconsin in the United States. Due to logging in the early part of the 20th century, very little old growth forest remain. Some of the trees that grow there today were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The national forest lands contain trees and vegetation corresponding to the North Woods Ecoregion that is prevalent throughout the upper Great Lakes region.
The Allegheny National Forest is a National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The forest covers 513,175 acres of land. Within the forest is Kinzua Dam, which impounds the Allegheny River to form Allegheny Reservoir. The administrative headquarters for the Allegheny National Forest is in Warren. The Allegheny National Forest has two ranger stations, one in Marienville, Forest County, and the other in Bradford, McKean County.
Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominant species in the blue oak woodland ecosystem. It is occasionally known as mountain oak and iron oak.
Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ecosystems and to promote select species that require an abundance of sunlight or grow in large, even-age stands. Logging companies and forest-worker unions in some countries support the practice for scientific, safety and economic reasons, while detractors consider it a form of deforestation that destroys natural habitats and contributes to climate change.
The fox squirrel, also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. Despite the differences in size and coloration, they are sometimes mistaken for American red squirrels or eastern gray squirrels in areas where the species co-exist.
Quercus shumardii, the Shumard oak, spotted oak, Schneck oak, Shumard red oak, or swamp red oak, is one of the largest of the oak species in the red oak group. It is closely related to Quercus buckleyi, Quercus texana, and Quercus gravesii.
The Hayes Arboretum is an arboretum of 330 acres (130 ha) located in Richmond, Indiana, United States. It is open free to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. It is the primary project of the Stanley W. Hayes Research Foundation, a private operating foundation. The Foundation owns a total of 466 acres (189 ha) of property in Wayne County, IN.
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, northeast of Faribault just outside the small town of Nerstrand. The park derives its name from the Big Woods, a large, contiguous forested area covering much of central Minnesota prior to the arrival of European settlers. The park and its forest were an outlying 'woods' typical and similar to the Big Woods proper, which were historically found on the more recent glacier deposits located west of the Cannon River 10 miles (16 km) to the west. Aside from a small waterfall, the outstanding natural feature of the park is the forest itself.
Beall Woods State Park is an Illinois state park on 635 acres (257 ha) bordering the Wabash River and Keensburg in Wabash County, Illinois in the United States. 329 acres (133 ha) of the state park is an old-growth forest designated as a Natural Area by the state of Illinois. The trees within the forest consist overwhelmingly of hardwoods of the former Eastern Woodlands ecosystem. Portions of Beall Woods State Park have been designated a National Natural Landmark as the Forest of the Wabash. The state park was created in 1966. The nearest towns with any sizable commercial infrastructure, including hotels and grocery stores, are Grayville and Mount Carmel. The park does host a small primitive campground and maintains a visitor center which opened in April 2001. The park maintains 6 1⁄4 miles (10.1 km) of hiking trails, primarily through the Forest of the Wabash portion of the park.
A woodlot is a parcel of a woodland or forest capable of small-scale production of forest products as well as recreational uses like bird watching, bushwalking, and wildflower appreciation. The term woodlot is chiefly North American; in Britain, a woodlot would be called a wood, woodland, or coppice.
Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir trees specifically for use as Christmas trees.
Populus grandidentata, commonly called large-tooth aspen, big-tooth aspen, American aspen, Canadian poplar, or white poplar, is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America.
Shelterwood cutting refers to the progression of forest cuttings leading to the establishment of a new generation of seedlings of a particular species or group of species without planting. This silvicultural system is normally implemented in forests that are considered mature, often after several thinnings. The desired species are usually long-lived and their seedlings would naturally tend to start under partial shade. The shelterwood system gives enough light for the desired species to establish without giving enough light for the weeds that are adapted to full sun. Once the desired species is established, subsequent cuttings give the new seedlings more light and the growing space is fully passed to the new generation.
The Dukes Research Natural Area is a 233-acre (0.94 km2) tract of northern hardwood forest located within the 5,000-acre (20 km2) Upper Peninsula Experimental Forest, a unit of the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Dukes Research Natural Area was listed in 1974 as a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Toumey Woods, also called the Toumey Woodlot, is a 24-acre (9.7 ha) tract of Beech-maple forest located on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. 13.5 acres (5.5 ha) of this wooded parcel of property are classified as old-growth woodland, and this subplot was listed as a United States National Natural Landmark in 1976.
