Natural Stand Dynamics

The old-growth multiaged longleaf pine forest at the Wade Tract soon after a prescribed burn. Note the contiguous group of regeneration developing within a canopy gap in the foreground.

We are fortunate to be stewards of one of the few remaining old-growth tracts of longleaf pine, the Wade Tract, located in South Georgia. Sites like the Wade Tract provide valuable guidance in the development of Ecological Forestry practices. While a considerable amount of basic research has already been conducted on the site, ample opportunities exist to expand on those, and to look for answers to more applied questions than have been the focus of past efforts. For example, we are using long-term inventory data to quantify mortality dynamics and the growth rates of trees of different sizes and ages in order to improve models of stand dynamics. The Wade Tract is also an ideal place to study regeneration dynamics of longleaf pine in response to the canopy gaps continually being generated and expanded by natural disturbance, primarily lightning strikes. Basic knowledge about the abundance and persistence of snags and coarse woody debris is also of considerable interest to conservation minded forest managers, and long-term observations from the Wade Tract are being analyzed and will be used to make recommendations about how much should be maintained in managed forests.