Probable Failure of Forest Regeneration Requires Sustained Management in Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site
Perles S and Eastern Forest Working Group. 2023. Probable Failure of Forest Regeneration Requires Sustained Management in Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. National Park Service
Forests are a key part of the landscape and visitor experience in eastern parks. These ecosystems are facing many stressors, including non-native plants, invasive tree pests, overabundant deer, and altered fire regimes. These stressors diminish forest resilience, which is the ability of an ecosystem to experience disturbance and rebound to similar functions, structure, and composition. A lack of tree regeneration -seedlings and saplings of canopy-forming trees -is an early indicator of reduced resilience and potential for future forest loss. Five NPS Inventory and Monitoring Networks assessed 10 regeneration metrics in 39 parks (Figure 1) containing about 1,500 permanent forest health monitoring plots sampled every four years (2008-2019). Here, we share results for Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (ALPO). For more detailed information on the full study, see the source publication in the Resources section below.
- Type
- Resource Brief
- Authors
- Perles, Stephanie; Eastern Forest Working Group
- Date of Issue
- 2023-03-14
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ALPO