Vegetation and land-use history of the New Jersey Brigade area of Morristown National Historical Park, New Jersey, since 1700
Dibeler BJ and Ehrenfeld JG. 1990. Vegetation and land-use history of the New Jersey Brigade area of Morristown National Historical Park, New Jersey, since 1700. Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Science. 35(2):1-11
This report is an analysis of current and historical vegetation and land use history in the New Jersey Brigade unit of Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, NJ. The potential impacts of land-use history on the current vegetation and on forest successional processes are explored by comparing current patterns of land-use with those since the time of settlement. Hickory, oak, and chestnut were prominent in the 18th century forest of this area. A series of maps for the period 1900 to the present detail the 20th century changes in land-use history and forest structure and extent. The chestnut blight eliminated this formerly dominant species. There were several major 18th and 19th century influences on the canopy and understory composition of the forest: Revolutionary War forest clearing, logging, sawmills and a forge, and the rise and decline of farming. The current forest of this unit is dominated by Liriodendron tulipifera (yellow poplar) and Betula lenta (birch). Results suggest that land-use history does not uniquely determine current canopy-level vegetation patterns.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Dibeler, Barbara; Ehrenfeld, Joan
- Units
- MORR
- Keywords
- Forest Succession, History, Land-Use, New Jersey Brigade unit., Plant Studies