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Oak SILVAH in Ohio at the landscape scale

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Forests cover 8.2 million acres in Ohio, encompassing 31 percent of the state's land area (Widmann 2014). Eighty-three percent is privately owned; 17 percent is publicly owned. Most forest land is in the unglaciated southeastern area of Ohio and is dominated by oak-hickory forests (Fig. 1). These provide critical habitat for more than 100 wildlife species, which include at-risk animals such as wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), cerulean warbler (Setophaga cerulea), and timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). The topography of these landscapes is highly dissected and creates spatially heterogeneous microenvironments that influence oak-hickory advance regeneration stocking (Iverson et al. 2017). Mature mixed-oak forests grow on a variety of aspects and slope positions with site indices of 55-80. These overstories are dominated by white oak (Quercus alba), chestnut oak (Q. prinus), and black oak (Q. velutina). Midstory and sapling layers are dominated by red maples (Acer rubrum) and sugar maples (A. saccharum); however, numerous species including blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), beech (Fagus grandifolia), and sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) are present. Deer pressure is generally lower in Ohio than in Pennsylvania and other eastern U.S. states. Nonnative plant species such as Ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), twinberry honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata), and stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) are problematic and continue to expand within these forests.

Parent Publication

Citation

Peters, Matthew P.; Rebbeck, Joanne. 2019. Oak SILVAH in Ohio at the landscape scale. In: Stout, Susan L., ed. SILVAH: 50 years of science-management cooperation. Proceedings of the Allegheny Society of American Foresters training session; 2017 Sept. 20-22; Clarion, PA. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-186. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station: 72-79. https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-GTR-P-186-Paper7.
Citations
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/59010