Abstract
The lower Mississippi River floodplain supported about 9 million ha of hardwood forests, and now less than 2 million. Reforestation is a priority of resource agencies, but efforts are hampered by uncertainties about species composition and site relations of plant communities.We compared the first land survey notes for an area along the Mississippi River in the 1800's to modern forest. The results suggest that (1) geomorphic surfaces generally provide a good basis for discriminating general patterns of plant community structure and composition, (2) modern forests differ from the forests of the early settlement era in importance of dominant species, suggesting that modern forests may not be appropriate restoration models, and (3) future distribution of plant communities will be altered because the lower Mississippi River has been stabilized, affecting future environments of deposition. Importantly, oak species, the primary material for restoration efforts, have never been particularly dominant on these sites.
Parent Publication
Citation
Tingle, John L.; Klimas,Charles V.; Foti, Thomas L. 2001. Application of General Land Office Survey Notes to Bottomland Hardwood Ecosystem Management and Restoration in the Lower Mississippi Valley - An Example From Desha County, Arkansas. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS 42. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 16-27
