Harvard Forest Research

Investigating coarse woody debris dynamics in an old-growth forest remnant in southern New Hampshire

Principal Investigator: David Orwig
Harvard Forest: May 01 2009 - Dec 31 2011:

Abstract:
The Harvard Forest Pisgah Tract holds a special place in our conception of nature, disturbances and forest development. Beginning in 1905, R.T. Fisher, the first director of the Harvard Forest, took students to the Pisgah Mountain area in southwestern New Hampshire to study the old-growth forest dominated by impressive white pine and hemlock. Twenty hectares of this forest was purchased and conserved by the Harvard Forest in the 1920s. Presently, the Harvard Tract is surrounded by the approximately 5300 hectare Pisgah State Park.

The Great Hurricane of 1938 uprooted most of the Harvard Tract and severely damaged much of the surrounding forest. The Harvard Tract was not salvaged, in contrast to most of the surrounding region. Seventy years later, the forest is comprised of 2 age cohorts (pre and post hurricane) and still has an abundance of enormous snags, fallen trees, and associated pits and mounds. The volume and size of coarse woody debris sets this tract apart from the predominately cut-over, relatively young forests in New England. Coarse woody debris was surveyed in the 1980s (50 years after the hurricane) and we plan to measure how it has decayed and changed from then to the present. Coarse woody debris is one of the key features of old-growth systems (D’Amato and Orwig 2008) and ties into many ecological processes including carbon sequestration, forest regeneration, and habitat for a variety of fauna. :