from forests to farms, and back again: land use change in the hudson valley
DESCRIPTION
The Hudson Valley is a treasured landscape that has undergone tremendous change over the past century. This forum explores how science-based stewardship on private land can help protect and promote healthy forests and open spaces, now and for future generations. Presentations (5) explore threats our forests and natural areas face – from invasive species and climate change to deer overabundance – and actions that can be taken on a site-by-site basis to optimize conditions. A special focus will be given to the overlap between sport hunting and conservation communities, with a roundtable discussion on advancing common ground. Hosted April 12, 2014 at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Presentation Part I by: Charles Canham, Forest Ecologist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem StudiesTRANSCRIPT
An Ecological History of the Hudson Valley
Charles D. CanhamSenior Scientist
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
abbreviated, with emphasis on Dutchess County…
and a view to lessons for land stewardship in the 21st century…
Disclaimers…
• I’m not a historian…
• Perspective of a forest ecologist on human land-use that has transformed a forested landscape…
Setting the Stage: The Hudson Valley prior to European Settlement
• Largely unbroken forest, dominated by oaks
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Oaks Hickories Hemlock Pine Maples
Presettlement Forests
Current Forests
“witness trees” recorded in original deeds (1750 – 1790) for the current property of the Cary Arboretum in Millbrook
Per
cent
Tree Species
Transformation of Dutchess County by early European agriculture…
From homestead to intensive wheat farming(1750 – 1825)…
(Photos of the Harvard Forest
Dioramas)
The Erie Canal and the exodus west…
Land abandonment and farm consolidation (1825 – 1875)
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2000
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1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Year
Popu
latio
n Erie Canal
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1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Year
Popu
latio
n Erie Canal
Population in the Town of Clinton, Dutchess Co. NY1750 - 2000
Reestablishment of forests (1825 – 1925)
First white pine harvests on
abandoned fields
Hardwoods regenerating after a pine
harvest
Poughkeepsie
Trends in forestcover
1700: ~ 100%1825: ~ 25%1915: ~ 16%2000: ~ 55%
Current forest land
? Have the forests “recovered”?
(and, should we let
them?)
What’s missing…?
Dutchman’s breechesMaidenhair fern
Trout lily
What’s new….?
Garlic mustard
Tree of heaven
Invasive species
What else is new…?
A new habitat:
“oldfields”
Are “oldfields” our most endangered habitat?
View from
Stissing Mounta
in
Where have all the fires gone? (and can we bring them back?)
• Is fire suppression responsible for a reduction in the regional dominance of oak species in many parts of the eastern US?
• Has the reduction in the abundance of oaks over the past 200 years fundamentally altered the flammability of these forests?
http://oaksavannas.org/fire-fuel.html
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10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Oaks Hickories Hemlock Pine Maples
Presettlement Forests
Current Forests
Per
cent
Tree Species
Catskill and Adirondack Logging: First Wave
1800 - 1890
Harvesting conifers from the river valleys, using horses and water for transportation
Photos from B. McMartin. 1994. The Great Forest of the
Adirondacks
The Tanning Industry…
• Catskills– Slopes completely logged in search of hemlock bark
(1830 – 1870)
• Adirondacks– Tanning industry on
periphery of the Park(1850 – 1890)
Source: B. McMartin. 1992.Hides, Hemlocks, and Adirondack History
Logging: Mechanization
The advent of railroads (circa 1890)
Clearcutting of hardwood forests
(and the advent of fires…)
Logging: the modern forest products industry
• Development of the modern forest products industry
– Pulp and paper (disappearing?)
– Selective loggingfor sawlogs (the ideal?)
– Biomass fuel (the future?)
What did we do to the forests inadvertently…?
• Arguably the most pervasive human impacts* on eastern US forests over the past century have been from the introduction of new pests and pathogens…
– Chestnut blight– Dutch elm disease– Gypsy moth– Beech bark disease– Hemlock wooly adelgid– Emerald ash borer– Asian longhorned beetle– …? (including changes in
outbreaks of native pestsand pathogens)
Heavily diseased and resistant beech trees
*on distribution and abundance of specific tree species
Lessons…
• We have created entirely new ecosystems, and landscape configurations that are without historical precedent…
• This is good! (or at least not necessarily bad…)
A burden of stewardship...
…If we have the power to so completely transform nature, don’t we have a responsibility to guide the changes…?
… If we can’t recreate the past, what are our goals for the future of the landscape…?