Documenting remnant old growth at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve: A pre-industrial legacy forest at the Burnwood area
Saladyga T, Chinea-Pegler R, Cook M, Cornett M, DePinho H, Dudding K, Duffer J, Roush M, Trump A. 2023. Documenting remnant old growth at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve: A pre-industrial legacy forest at the Burnwood area. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NERI/NRR—2023/2504. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2298500
The primary objective of this study was to document a potential old-growth site at the Burnwood area of New River Gorge National Park & Preserve (Figure 1). We evaluated multiple old-growth criteria and forest characteristics, including species composition and stand structure, tree recruitment and shrub cover, tree age, and coarse woody debris (CWD) and microtopography. Our results indicate a forest composed of multiple overstory tree species, including Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière), American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.), and four oak (Quercus) species. Large-diameter trees (> 50 cm at breast height) occurred at a relatively high density (85.7 trees/ha), and 28 of 50 trees that were cored had an inner-ring year that pre-dated 1900. Fifteen of these trees established before 1800, while five had an inner-ring year in the 1670s. Understory vegetation was sparse with red maple dominating the 5–15 cm seedling height class, while only six saplings and four individual shrubs were observed in forest plots. Average CWD volume was 52.0 m3/ha and we observed pit and mound microtopography within plots and across the study site. This report provides the first detailed assessment of old growth at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve and in southern West Virginia in general. Large-diameter (> 50 cm DBH) tree density and CWD volume were within the range of values reported for eastern old-growth forests (McGee 2018), while tree age surpassed 300 years in some cases. The forest, however, is not characterized by the “pristine” conditions often ascribed to old growth. Fire and then fire exclusion, invasive pests and pathogens, and climate change have and will continue to collectively shape the future of this pre-industrial legacy forest. The results of this report can be used to inform resource management objectives as well as interpretive programming at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Saladyga, Thomas; Chinea-Pegler, Ricardo; Cook, Madison; Cornett, Madison; DePinho, Haidyn; Dudding, Keiley; Duffer, Joseph; Roush, Mitchell; Trump, Andrew
- Date of Issue
- 2023-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2298500
- Units
- NERI , NRSS
- Keywords
- Old growth, Tree ring