Cross Timbers   Robert Leverett
  Mar 09, 2005 09:49 PST 

ENTS:

   What follows is an update on research in the Cross Timbers of
Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, as submitted by Dave Stahle. Note Don
Bragg's participation. So two ENTS members are involved. For those of
you who are not familiar with the Cross Timbers, please visit the
website at http://www.uark.edu/misc/xtimber/ 

   Dave Stahle, Lord of the Rings, has been an unbelievable force in
saving priceless remnants of the pre-settlement forests of Cross
Timbers. As one of the co-founders of ENTS, we owe him an enormous debt.
Perhaps in 2006, we can have a special honoring ceremony for him.

Bob
====================

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

    I would like to brief you on recent activities related to the
Ancient Cross Timbers Consortium, and outline our plans to organize a
network of research natural areas (RNA's) in the ancient Cross Timbers.
Dan Griffin and I recently visited the LBJ National Grasslands near
Decatur, Texas, and surveyed the 'Cross Timbers Research Natural Area'
with Jim Crooks (USDA-FS District Ranger), George Weick (Forest
Siviculturalist, USDA-FS, Lufkin), and Don Bragg (Southern Research
Station, USDA-FS, Monticello). The RNA is located in a forested upland
drainage in the area Dyksterhuis (1948) referred to as the 'main belt'
of the Western Cross Timbers. We did not survey the entire RNA by any
means, but it looked like the area had been grazed and selectively cut
over some decades ago and the woodlands were subsequently invaded by
cedar. Nonetheless, large old post oak remain scattered through the RNA
and we took core samples from a selection of mature and old post oak to
develop a tree-ring chronology for the RNA. The LBJ was conducting
prescribed burns during our visit, and it was most impressive to watch
the fire lines burn through the savanna woodlands, occasionally torching
a large globular cedar in a column of flame perhaps 50 to 60 feet high.
Most of these cedars are young and recent invaders of the grasslands,
and prescribed fire is certainly needed if the grasslands and woodlands
are going maintained as something other than dense cedar thickets. Mr.
Crooks mentioned that the future of the prescribed burning program on
the LBJ may be in some doubt as the grasslands fall under the air
quality standards of the expanding Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex.

        Dan and I then visited two landowners with property in the
rugged uplands above Palo Pinto Creek. Krista Peppers conducted her
dissertation research in the western Cross Timbers (which is now
completed and available through University Microfilms), and we believe
that this area near Palo Pinto Creek is the largest area of high quality
ancient Cross Timbers left in the entire state of Texas. The area of
contiguous old growth appears to cover over 1300 acres (multiple
ownership), and we think it presents an important conservation challenge
as Jack Bauer described at our inaugural meeting in Tulsa last year.
We then visited the Fossil Hill property of Jeanne and Wayne Erickson
near Lake Amon Carter in Montague County, Texas. Jeanne attended our
meeting in Tulsa and has kindly offered to include Fossil Hill in our
network of RNA's in the ancient Cross Timbers. Fossil Hill covers 137
acres and includes some of the most seriously ancient post oaks we have
ever seen. Dan and I loved the place which sits handsomely above the
lake and is being surrounded by massive ex-urban developments, many cut
into what was recently old-growth Cross Timbers.

        We have initiated a research project with Don Bragg, Southern
Research Station, and Jason Tullis, a new professor in our department
and expert in remote sensing and GIS, to map populations of Cross
Timbers in west-central Arkansas. It is often difficult to draw the
line between biogeographical provinces objectively, but Kuchler (1964)
did map a fairly large area of Cross Timbers in Crawford and Sebastian
Counties, Arkansas. We have traced these woodlands from Oklahoma into
western Arkansas on dry ridgelines south of Ft. Smith. Don and Jesse
Edmondson have also recently found some great examples of old-growth
post oak woodlands on dry slopes in recently decommissioned areas of
Fort Chaffee, which may represent some of the eastern-most populations
of the Cross Timbers type. We plan a detailed mapping of these outlying
populations and some detailed field studies at a selection of old-growth
sites. We also hope to find a candidate site of excellent old growth
for inclusion in our proposed network of RNA's.

We conducted a small survey of old-growth woodlands on federal
property adjacent to Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma, and found a 70-acre island
still mostly covered with old-growth post oak dominated woodlands. The
island was created by the 1964 impoundment of the Canadian River, and
was an isolated rocky ridge top really unfit for farming or quality
lumber production. So old-growth post oak in the 200- to 300-year age
class still survive, along with a few old growth ash, hickory, and other
oaks scattered through the woodland. There are also some interesting
rock formations, glade grasslands, and savanna-like woodlands along the
margins of the glade. The Corps of Engineers is considering issuing a
long-term administrative lease or license for the management of the
island to the University of Arkansas Tree-Ring Laboratory, in behalf of
the Ancient Cross Timbers Consortium. This lease would spell out the
activities to be conducted on the island, which would be submitted for
approval to the Corps, of course, and would be restricted to
non-destructive environmental research and education. The Corps issues
administrative leases for many uses, but in this case they want the
lease held by a single institution rather than by our loosely
affiliated, multi-institutional Consortium. But if and when this
happens, the management of the 'Old-Growth Island' will be as an RNA in
behalf of the Consortium as a whole and anyone interested in the
research and educational opportunities presented by this unique isolated
old-growth habitat are encouraged to participate. We have posted our
survey report (3 mb) of old-growth at Lake Eufaula (actually just a
small portion of the 600-mile shoreline) at:
http://www.uark.edu/xtimber/corps_report.pdf

        Our friend and Consortium advisory board member, Dave Patton of
Checotah, Oklahoma, is as obsessive as we are and recently took the
conservation of the ancient Cross Timbers into his own hands when he
purchased a 30-acre tract of super old-growth on a steep bluffline above
the North Canadian River, upstream from Lake Eufaula, to insure its
protection (what he and Jane are calling "Los Ancianos"). Dan Griffin
and I have visited the site with Dave, which includes gorgeous rock
formations, gnarly post oaks, and excellent old red cedar and winged
elm. Dave already owns a great chunk of ancient Cross Timbers on Tiger
Mountain nearby, which we hope to include in our network of RNA's.

        Some news on colleagues who recently conducted research in the
Cross Timbers: Krista Peppers completed her Ph.D. at Arkansas last year
and is now teaching in the Biology Department at Ouachita Baptist
University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Stacy Clark has been finished with
her Ph.D. project for a couple of years now, and recently joined the
Forest Service Southern Research Station in Normal, Alabama. Alynne
Bayard is working for the Canaan Valley Institute in West Virginia.
Matt Therrell is now working on a post-doc at the University of
Virginia, developing tree-ring chronologies in southern Africa. Jesse
Edmondson is writing his honors thesis at the University of Arkansas on
old growth eastern red cedar in the Cross Timbers of Oklahoma. Dan
Griffin's repeat photography paper will be published in the April 2005
edition of the Natural Areas Journal.

       There are two symposia planned in the near future on the Cross
Timbers. The Texas Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration is
meeting in Dallas from June 10-12, 2005, and plans a session on the
Cross Timbers (write Kenneth Steigman at: stei-@unt.edu for further
details). The Botanical Society of America meets in Austin, TX, August
12-17, and is holding an all day session on the Cross Timbers (write
Stanley Rice at sri-@sosu.edu for further details).

    Dorian Burnett has helped us update our XTIMBER website
(http://www.uark.edu/xtimber). It now has a new look, links to the
institutional websites for many of our collaborators, and more
importantly we have greatly reduced file sizes and cleaned up code so
you can access the Consortium proposal, MOU, and all other posted items
quickly and accurately.

In the not too distant future, we are going to post descriptions for our
network of RNA's on the website, including maps, aerial images, photos,
vital statistics, data, site descriptions, and other useful information.
We hope it will provide an interesting virtual tour of the ancient
Cross Timbers ecosystem. But first we have to obtain the consent of all
landowners to allow their property to be affiliated in this worthwhile
research and educational initiative. Several have already consented to
allow their old-growth property to be counted among our RNA's. This
changes nothing about the ownership and management of their property.
We must still request permission to visit the site for whatever purpose,
and any research or educational activities contemplated must still gain
their approval in advance. But by becoming a cooperating member of our
network of RNA's the oversight and approval of these requests will be
streamlined. And they will be helping us tremendously. With their
participation, we will have a specific network of old-growth properties
where non-destructive research and education projects can proceed, both
on a site specific basis or on a distributed ecosystem-wide basis.
Currently, we have commitments or hope to get commitments for an
affiliation of 10-15 research natural areas in the ancient Cross
Timbers, extending across the ecosystem from north to south and east to
west. Our tentative list includes the following sites:

Site Name      

State

 Ownership      

Consent

                

 

 

 

Cross Timbers State Park        

Kansas

State of Kansas

Yes

Fort Chaffee

 Arkansas

State of Arkansas      

 

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve      

Oklahoma        

Nature Conservancy      

 

Keystone Ancient Forest Preserve        

Oklahoma        

Nature Conservancy      

 

Okmulgee Wildlife Management Area       

Oklahoma        

State of Oklahoma       

 

Tiger Mountain

Oklahoma    
   

Private

Yes

Old Growth Island    

Oklahoma    
    

Federal

Yes?

Lake Atoka

Oklahoma        

Oklahoma City   

 

Lake Arbuckle   

Oklahoma        

Federal

 

Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge      

Oklahoma        

Federal

 

Fossil Hill     

Texas   

Private

Yes

LBJ National Grasslands Cross Timbers RNA    

Texas   

Federal

Yes

Lake Mineral Wells State Park        

Texas   

State of Texas

Yes

Palo Pinto Canyon    

Texas   

Private

 



        This is a preliminary list, and we can add or subtract sites
from this list as necessary, of course. Your suggestions are welcome.
We do hope that many of these sites can be included and that the network
we ultimately design will extend across the entire ecosystem. I plan to
contact landowners of properties on this list to request their
participation. If you might be able to assist this process or if you
know of other potential locations that should be considered, then please
let me know. The final design of the network will be submitted to the
advisory board of the Consortium for discussion and approval. We would
like to convene a meeting of the Consortium to identify research and
education objectives for this network of RNA's. This meeting would be
open to all interested parties, of course, and will be a good time to
discuss and outline a proposal to seek at least modest funding to
organize and apply the network. I leave for a month of fieldwork on
March 10 and won't have time to do the preliminary work needed for the
meeting until this summer. But perhaps we can convene the meeting next
fall or winter.

Sincerely, Dave Stahle


--

David W. Stahle
Department of Geosciences
Ozark Hall 113
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479-575-3703
http://www.uark.edu/dendro
http://www.uark.edu/xtimber
http://www.uark.edu/blueoak
RE: Cross Timbers   Robert Leverett
  Mar 09, 2005 11:19 PST 

James:

   The Cross Timbers region occupies almost 18,000,000 acres that
includes a modest area in southeatern Kansas, a huge area in Oklahoma, a
very small area of western Arkansas and a large area in eastern Texas.
The estimated acreage of old growth forest is huge, nearly 900,000
acres. The area in Texas that includes OG I think is small, though, as a
percentage of its share of the Cross Timbers. , ActuallyI am amazed that
anything has survived in Texas.

    Most of the Oklahoma Cross Timbers is east of the Wichitas.

Bob
RE: Cross Timbers   Don Bragg
  Mar 10, 2005 06:16 PST 

There are scattered Cross Timbers stand across much of the Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas (and now even Arkansas) areas, and I do believe there are Cross Timbers in the Wichita Mountains, as well.

If we end up having an ENTS rendevous in Arkansas in 2006, I'm sure we could get Dave Stahle and some of his students to speak to the meeting. Not only are we doing neat new things in the Cross Timbers, but Dave has recently got onto a baldcypress kick. He recently showed me samples of 40,000+ year old cypress wood preserved in sediments in the Carolinas that is in such good shape it can be sawn into boards and is sold as a premium lumber...

Don Bragg