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Upland Hardwood Forests and Related Communities of the Arkansas Ozarks in the Early 19th Century

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Historic accounts of the 19 th Century Arkansas Ozarks mention such communities as oak forests, pine forests, barrens and prairies. I document the region-wide distribution of these types based on data from the first land survey conducted by the General Land Office (GLO). Structural classes used here include closed forest, open forest, woodland, savanna, open savanna and prairie or herbaceous-dominated. The analysis is based on subsections of the Ozark Mountains within Arkansas. These provide areas small enough to represent the landscape level diversity of the Ozark ecoregion, but large enough to encompass a relatively large number of GLO corners, the basic unit of analysis. As of the 1820s and 1830s, there were differences in the proportion of structural classes within these subsections: the Boston Mountains had more closed forest than the Ozark Highlands to the north, but communities were more open than today, probably as a result of recent fire suppression.

Parent Publication

Citation

Foti, Thomas L. 2004. Upland Hardwood Forests and Related Communities of the Arkansas Ozarks in the Early 19th Century. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-73. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 21-29
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/6488