AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

Twenty-five years of forest succession in Happy Valley, Jefferson County, Indiana.

Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science

| July 29, 2003 | Betz, Lindsay; MacMillan, Paul C. | COPYRIGHT 2003 Indiana Academy of Science. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

ABSTRACT. In April 1974 a tornado severely damaged the sugar maple/Ohio buckeye forest in Happy Valley, Jefferson County, Indiana. Virtually all canopy trees were destroyed or damaged. In the fall of 1974, the forest was sampled on three transects across the valley. The most damaged portion of the valley forest was characterized as a sugar maple/white oak spp./white ash community. Seven years later the forest was sampled on the same transects, and the most damaged part was described as a sugar maple/elm spp./ Ohio buckeye/redbud community. Fifteen years after the tornado the forest was sampled on the same transects, and the most damaged part was described as a sugar maple/slippery elm community. Twenty and twenty-five years after the tornado the most damaged portion of the forest is still a sugar maple/ slippery elm community, with chinkapin oak, Ohio buckeye, American basswood, white ash and hackberry of secondary importance. The less damaged portion of the valley is dominated by sugar maple, with black walnut, box-elder, white ash, slippery elm and red oak of secondary importance. Important changes in overall forest structure that occurred between 20 and 25 years after the tornado are described, and predictions of future changes are included.

Keywords: Forest composition, forest structure, Jefferson County, Indiana, oaks, Ohio buckeye, secondary succession, slippery elm, sugar maple

Temperate forests in the midwestern United States have been subjected to natural disturbances since they evolved. One dramatic cause of such disturbance is tornadic winds. On the afternoon of 3 April 1974, a series of tornadoes ripped across Indiana. One traveled through the town of Hanover, traversed the Hanover College campus, and continued northeast across the adjacent wooded Happy Valley creating extensive damage. The tornado left nine people dead in the county and damaged nearly every building on the college campus (Larking 1974; Anonymous 1974).

Bailey and MacMillan (1977) completed a census of the Happy Valley forest in the fall of 1974 and found that 90% of the canopy vegetation was removed and approximately one-third of the trees (dbh[greater than or equal to]5) had been destroyed. The valley floor was so littered with logs that one was forced to climb over them. Forest destruction was most severe at the northern end of the Valley. Destruction of the canopy allowed sunlight to reach the forest floor, which in turn supported abundant herbaceous plant growth. Within a few years, woody shrubs and tree saplings emerged above the piles of fallen stems and branches; and many of the damaged standing stems branched profusely and leafed out. After seven years (1981), emergent trees began to form a canopy creating an environment that supported more shade tolerant plants (Martin & MacMillan 1982).

Data on the Happy Valley forest, gathered before the tornado of 1974, was not systematically collected; but it suggested that the forest had been a sub-climax, sugar maple/Ohio buckeye community. The summer following the tornado, Bailey & MacMillan (1977) established three west-to-east transects across the valley to census the forest. They found the remaining forest to be composed primarily of sugar maple. White ash, elm spp. and white oak spp. were of secondary importance, while Ohio buckeye was a very minor component of the forest. Prior to and since the tornado, sugar maple is the dominant species. However, many changes have taken place in the sub-dominant or secondary tree species since the tornado. Seven years later (1981), the same three transects were recensused. The dominant species in the most severely damaged (northern) portion of the valley was sugar maple, with Ohio buckeye and slippery elm of secondary importance. In the less disturbed (southern) portion of the valley, sugar maple was by far the most dominant tree with white ash, white oak spp., and box-elder of secondary importance (Martin & MacMillan 1982). In 1989, 15 years after the tornado, the valley forest was described as a sugar maple/slippery elm community (MacMillan 1996). American basswood, black maple and sycamore were of secondary importance in the more damaged (northern) part of the valley, while black walnut, white ash, northern red oak, and box-elder were of secondary importance in the less damaged (southern) portion of the valley.

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
Government of Canada Partners With Nature Conservancy of Canada to Preserve...
News wire article from: Canadian Corporate News June 23, 2009 700+ words
...announcement is back in Happy Valley Forest, where Prime...cerulean warbler." The Happy Valley Forest's rolling landscape...mature American beech, sugar maple and eastern hemlock...Brown. "The lands of Happy Valley Forest will continue...
MIRACLE CURE FOR SUGAR MAPLE NOT NEEDED -- NOT SICK ACCORDING TO FOREST HEALTH...
Press release article from: PR Newswire September 2, 1992 700+ words
MIRACLE CURE FOR SUGAR MAPLE NOT NEEDED -- NOT SICK ACCORDING...experiencing significant decline, sugar maple has been given a clean bill of health...were performed by the North American Sugar Maple Decline Project of the Northeastern...
How sweet it is, or is it? Reports on the status of sugar maple in North...
Press release article from: PR Newswire May 26, 1989 700+ words
...OR IS IT? REPORTS ON THE STATUS OF SUGAR MAPLE IN NORTH AMERICA ARE BITTERSWEET TALES...BROOMALL, Pa., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Sugar maple trees in New England and New York are...forest survey. Another survey rated sugar maple one of the healthiest species of hardwoods...
SWEET SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE HANDMADE MUSIC IT CELEBRATES, SUGAR MAPLE IS A...
Newspaper article from: The Capital Times (Madison, WI) Alesia, Tom July 30, 2009 700+ words
...the sounds it celebrates, Madison's Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival maintains...radios before television's launch. Sugar Maple keeps that traditional music label...front of the stage fills in a snap. Sugar Maple occupies a roomy tent and a remote spot...
Ten-year effect of dolomitic lime on the nutrition, crown vigor, and growth of...
Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of Forest Research Moore, Jean-David Ouimet, Rock July 1, 2006 700+ words
...subjected to high acid deposition, sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) nutrition...calcium and magnesium concentrations of sugar maple were still higher for treated than for...was demonstrated by the improvement of sugar maple calcium nutrition, crown vigor, and...
The Savory Sugar Maple.
Magazine article from: American Forests BALL, JEFF January 1, 2001 700+ words
The aptly named sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is the primary...in the right conditions, and the sugar maple makes one of the best shade trees...in all, it's a great tree. The sugar maple made its mark in the Northeast in...
Vater sweetens offerings with sugar maple sticks. (Product News).
Magazine article from: Music Trades February 1, 2002 700+ words
...expanded its product line by introducing the new Sugar Maple Series of drumsticks. The Sugar Maple Series includes seven of the most popular...Ride--all constructed from maple. The sugar maple wood species' short growth season in the...
Replacement patterns of beech and sugar maple in Warren Woods, Michigan.
Magazine article from: Ecology Poulson, Thomas L. Platt, William J. June 1, 1996 700+ words
...American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) (Cain 1935, Williams...changes (succession) toward beech or sugar maple dominance. The second class of hypotheses...in relative abundances of beech and sugar maple. In this study, in a forest codominated...
For more facts and information, see all results
©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA