LWDF and a champion shortleaf pine    Don Bragg    Mar 19, 2006 11:33 PST  ENTS-- I had planned to submit this trip report later, but in honor of the upcoming Eastern Old-Growth Forest Conference, I decided to release these results now. I have recently completed a resurvey of the Levi Wilcoxon Demonstration Forest (LWDF) just south of Hamburg in Ashley County, AR. Some of you may recall that I presented some information on the LWDF when I first joined, and at that time I promised to do a fuller assessment using the sine method to meet ENTS standards. A lot of water passed under the bridge since then, but I had an opportunity to revisit this stand as a part of work... The LWDF is located in the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain of southern Arkansas not far from the Mississippi Embayment (aka the "Delta"). The LWDF is located on a formation called the "Prairie Terrace", or sediments deposited by an ancentral version of the major rivers (including the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas) that flowed in this region at some point in the distant past. The low, rolling hills are interspersed with flatter, Holocene period floodplains of the many small streams that drain the area. A layer of loess covers much of the area, although not nearly as deep as across the Mississippi River. Another interesting feature of this landform are the "pimple" or "prairie" mounds that dot the surface. These low, circular mounds are though to have a natural (non-human) biotic origin, but little about them is known. The upland forests of the region are largely pine or some mix of pine-oak-gum-hickory, and are relatively diverse. Loblolly pine is the most dominant species, having been heavily planted and managed for for decades. Shortleaf pine is common, although not in nearly the quantities found in historical times. Various oak species are found throughout the area, especially southern red oak, white oak, post oak, water oak, and willow oak. Sweetgum and blackgum are very common, as are numerous other hardwoods like elm, maple, and dogwood. The following individuals were measured with our Impulse 200LR. I measured the sine and tangent heights at exactly the same points, so this is further evidence of the value of the sine method. The American Forests Bigness Index (AFBI) was calculated using their averaged value for crown width (CW):                   Circ    Sine    Tan     Avg    AF SPP                ft      HT      HT      CW    BI Loblolly pine     10.7    138.3   150.8   47.7   279 Loblolly pine     10.5    126.8   134.9   67.1   269 Loblolly pine     11.2    122.2   134.5   53.7   270 Loblolly pine     14.6    116.9   125.6   57.0   306 Loblolly pine     11.0    116.8   119.3   55.1   263 Post oak           8.4     99.7   106.7   42.5   211 Post oak           8.4     91.4   118.1   60.0   207 Shortleaf pine     9.4    136.1   137.6   49.8   261 Shortleaf pine     9.0    131.4   126.8   37.2   249 Shortleaf pine     7.7    129.6   131.3   37.4   232 Shortleaf pine     6.6    124.2   133.0   28.7   210 Shortleaf pine     8.6    121.1   119.7   45.4   236 Shortleaf pine     8.1    112.7   123.7   38.9   219 S. red oak        10.1    102.8   127.3   80.2   244 Sweetgum           7.9    120.7   127.4   50.0   227 Sweetgum           8.4     98.9    93.4   52.2   213 Water oak          7.4    102.3   106.7   36.8   200 White oak          9.6    110.0   118.0   76.7   244 White oak         11.8    109.2   133.1   68.5   268 White oak          7.7    106.5   125.3   54.5   213 White oak          8.4    104.9   129.2   73.8   224 White oak          9.6    100.7   120.6   63.5   231 Winged elm         4.8     90.4    95.8   46.7   160 RuckerIndex(8spp)         112.5 I could have picked up a few other subordinate hardwood species to calculate at 10 spp Rucker Index, but that didn't seem most appropriate. This stand was reserved as an example of the virgin pine forests in the late 1930s, and was probably typical of the last few parcels of old-growth pine-dominated forests remaining in the region, but is not likely an example of the most productive sites of the area. Over the decades, pine regeneration has ceased, and the stand is slowly converting to mixed hardwoods. The 14.6' CBH loblolly pine is known as the "Morris Pine", and I have sent this list pictures of this tree before. The biggest pine I have seen mentioned in the GLO land survey notes for the Ashley County area was given as 18.8' CBH, and I think 14' to 16' CBH pines were pretty common in the area. I strongly suspect that loblolly (and perhaps even shortleaf) may have exceeded 150' tall in the presettlement forests, and perhaps loblolly approached 170' in some of the richer minor bottoms it grows the quickest in, but we have no real way to show that now, given that virtually all old-growth pines have been logged from the area. I think that 140' is probably about the upper end of the pine height potential in the LWDF, given the frequency of ice storms and damaging winds this stand receives. Few hardwoods of large size are found in this stand, as it was primarily pine when it was reserved. There are some impressive forest-grown white and post oaks, but sweetgum appears to be the only hardwood challenging the pines for supercanopy positions. The winged elm was an impressive individual for this species, which is usually just a small understory tree. Finally, the Walsh Pine, the 136.1' Arkansas state champion shortleaf pine, saw its crown reduced somewhat from storms in recent years, but is still vigorously healthy. I was recently on the American Forests website, and looked up shortleaf pine. Lo and behold, the two co- champion shortleaf pines scored 240 and 245 points. When I nominated the Walsh Pine several years ago, it scored more than that, but I was told that a different shortleaf pine had been nominated that outscored the Walsh Pine, and therefore the LWDF didn't have a national champion. Imagine my surprise when I saw the 2004-2005 register online with these trees! We carefully remeasured the Walsh Pine using the sine method (it shrunk in height from 143' to 136.1'), and although a branch broke that narrowed its crown slightly, the Walsh Pine still scored 261 points! Turns out that there is another shortleaf in the LWDF that scored 249 points, also outscoring the current co-champs! I have resubmitted the Walsh Pine as national champion, and it is currently under consideration. Unfortunately, the LWDF is about three hours from Little Rock, so it will be hard to show interested ENTS this stand, unless they are willing to make a special trip on Sunday. I hope to see as many of y'all as possible Friday/Saturday! Don Bragg ***************** Don Bragg, Ph.D. Research forester *****************   Home