The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management

Abstract

Conditions in forested ecosystems of southern Indiana are described before initiation of silvicultural treatments for the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment (HEE). The HEE is a 100-year study begun in 2006 in Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests to improve the sustainability of forest resources and quality of life of Indiana residents by understanding ecosystem and human responses to forest management. Human-focused articles detail the history of disturbance from pre-Columbian times, the evolution of forest policy and management, values associated with the state forests that host the HEE, human perceptions of modern forest management in Indiana, and outreach efforts designed to inform stakeholders about the HEE. Interest in forest, wildlife, and fish resources is high in Indiana, and four of five residents have visited a state forest. Support for timber harvest as a management tool also is high if done professionally and not exclusively to supply lumber. Among users and neighbors of the forests that contain the HEE, educational intervention increased the acceptability of forest management and reduced the acceptability of not harvesting.

Titles contained within The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management

• The history of human disturbance in forest ecosystems of southern Indiana
• Indiana forest management history and practices
• Indiana residents' perceptions of woodland management
• The hardwood ecosystem experiment: goals, design, and implementation
• The cerulean warbler in Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests, Indiana: pre-treatment data on abundance and spatial characteristics of territories
• Spatial ecology and behavior of eastern box turtles on the hardwood ecosystem experiment: pre-treatment results
• Spatial ecology of timber rattlesnakes on the hardwood ecosystem experiment: pre-treatment results
• Pre-treatment analysis of woody vegetation composition and structure on the hardwood ecosystem experiment research units
• Breeding bird communities of the hardwood ecosystem experiment
• Relative abundance and species richness of terrestrial salamanders on hardwood ecosystem experiment sites before harvesting
• A pre-treatment assessment of small mammals in the hardwood ecosystem experiment
• Oak mast production and animal impacts on acorn survival in the central hardwoods
• Bats of the hardwood ecosystem experiment before timber harvest: assessment and prognosis
• Habitat use by bats in two Indiana forests prior to silvicultural treatments for oak regeneration
• Pre-treatment assemblages of wood-boring beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae, Cerambycidae) of the hardwood ecosystem experiment
• The lepidoptera as predictable communities of herbivores: a test of niche assembly using the moth communities of Morgan-Monroe State Forest
• Public acceptability of forest management practices at Morgan-Monroe State Forest
• Value of the Morgan-Monroe-Yellowwood State Forest Complex
• Science in the hardwood ecosystem experiment: accomplishments and the road ahead
• The hardwood ecosystem experiment: extension and outreach
• Past is prologue: a synthesis of state forest management activities and hardwood ecosystem experiment pre-treatment results

Keywords

bats, beetles, birds, Central Hardwoods, experiment, forest management, human attitudes, Indiana, moths, oak, reptiles, salamanders, silviculture, small mammals, wildlife

Citation

Swihart, Robert K.; Saunders, Michael R.; Kalb, Rebecca A.; Haulton, G. Scott; Michler, Charles H., eds. 2013. The Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment: a framework for studying responses to forest management. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-108. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. CD ROM 350 p.