Vegetation community monitoring at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Arkansas: 2007–2016.
Leis SA. 2018. Vegetation community monitoring at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Arkansas: 2007–2016.. Natural Resource Report. NPS/HTLN/NRR—2018/1614. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Resource managers at Pea Ridge National Military Park manage the park natural communities to interpret the civil war battle that occurred on March 7-8, 1862. Restoration of the landscape to the vegetation communi-ties that were present at the time of the battle is ongoing. Main priorities for restoration were density, form, and vegetation structure, but native representative species were also desired. Heartland Inventory and Moni-toring Network ecologists observed plant community sites in park woodlands in 2007, 2012, and 2016. Over-story density was similar through time except density of small trees (class 1) was greater in 2012 and 2016. The woodland overstory retained a relatively closed canopy and oak dominance though mesic species increased. Tree seedlings and large saplings were dominated by oaks, but small saplings had a more diverse composition, indicating the potential for future changes in the overstory composition. The herbaceous community is sparsely vegetated. Diversity values have varied each year with an observed drop in 2012 followed by recovery in 2016. Woody species cover increased the most among understory guilds. Fire monitoring objectives have not yet been met based on our monitoring site data, but not all burns have been completed.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Leis, Sherry
- Date of Issue
- 2018-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- HTLN , NRSS , PERI
- Keywords
- Fire Ecology, HTLN, HTLN Plant Communities Monitoring, Long-term monitoring, Monitoring, Plant community, Vegetation, Woodland