Conservation Issues in the History of New England Forests
Several dioramas highlight conservation issues in the New England countryside. These dioramas remind us of the history of conservation issues in eastern North America, and also point up the continuity of certain conservation concerns through time.
- Old Growth Forests
- Wildlife Habitat in a Dynamic Landscape
- Accelerated Erosion with Intensive Land Use
- Forest Fire
- Forest Fire Management
Old Growth Forests
This small stand of old-growth forest on the shore of Harvard Pond survived the regional history of land-use and natural disturbance due to its sheltered position at the base of a rocky slope that was unsuited for agriculture.
In their size, variety, and unmistakable antiquity, the overstory trees contrast strikingly with the young and moderate-aged forests now so common on abandoned farms and cut-over lands in the region. The pond and adjoining wetlands in the background support a diversity of aquatic and open-land plant and animal life.
Wildlife Habitat in a Dynamic Landscape
New England's wildlife habitats and food resources have changed dramatically as the landscape has been transformed through time from forest to open fields and woodlots and then back to forest.
The shift in our landscape to older, more continuously developing forests may encourage native woodland species, but it also reduces habitat for open-land species. Forest management, by giving special consideration to particular wildlife species, can create additional habitats or recreate many natural environments.
As forest and conservation management proceeds, choices must be made
as to which specific values to emphasize in specific areas. An understanding
of history, biology, and management practices assists greatly in defining
and reaching specific conservation and management goals. However, ultimately
the selection of those goals is a subjective process.
Accelerated Erosion with Intensive Land Use
In New England, as in many other locations, widespread land clearing and agriculture led to soil erosion.
In the pre-settlement era, the thick forest cover prevented erosion by intercepting rain and binding the soil with a dense network of roots. Through evapotranspiration, the forests recycled moisture to the atmosphere, reducing the amount of water moving downslope into brooks streams and rivers.
This tight control over hydrology and water movement changed with land clearing for agriculture. Throughout the period of deforestation and intensive agricultural use, soil moved across fields, down hillslopes and into major river systems.
Forest Fire
The diorama shows a typical fire-fighting scene from the 1930s, in the era of active suppression of all fires.
The fire tower is typical of those built by state and federal agencies throughout the northeastern Untied states in the early 1900s, motivated by a widespread concern over the detection and control of fire. Most fires in New England result from human ignition, and understanding the historical and modern role of fire is a subject of great interest to ecologists, conservationists, and foresters.
Forest Fire Management
Because severe fires are much more common in conifer than in hardwood forests, the "old-field" pine forests represented a significant fire danger. Concern by early conservationists over the apparent destructive impacts of fire on forest ecosystems led to a very successful national effort to reduce ignitions and enhance detection and control of both human-set and natural forest fires throughout much of the 20th century.
Over the past few decades, ecologists, foresters, and conservationists have reconsidered the wisdom of the all-out effort to eliminate fire from our landscape. Without the ongoing occurrence of fire and other human-induced disturbances the vegetation and landscape may change quite rapidly and populations of valued species that depend on the open conditions and specific structures created by fire may decline.
Although fire suppression, especially near dwellings, remains a major concern in many of our forest areas, we are beginning to use our knowledge of fire behavior under controlled conditions to manage some New England landscape purposefully with fire.