Southern and Central Forests - IIA

Forest Range Types of Eastern North America

The fundamental and practical distinction between coniferous and deciduous forests is useful (and was used herein), but precise, non-arbitrary "lines" are impossible when presenting and discussing forest range types in the eastern half of the continent. This is especially the case when climax or potential natural vegetation is used as the basis for forest types (ie. when cover types, or the more specific management cover types, are discussed as being more or less synonymous with permanent forest types). As discussed in detail below, the epic work of Lucy Braun (1950) is still the definitive basis for the ecological discussion and classification of those North American forests which extend from the Atlantic Coast to slightly beyond the Missouri and Mississippi River drainages. Braun (1950) included all the coniferous forests (forest types, regions, etc.)-- the generic "southeastern pine region"--as part of her one Deciduous Forest Formation.

The forest range types included in the following section include coniferous, deciduous, and mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. This is confusing but unavoidable given the nature of the vegetation and the standard understanding (the Braun interpretation) of ecological relations and classification of this forest vegetation. Most of the southeastern pine types presented are management cover types maintained silviculturally as more economically valuable coniferous forests rather than as the climax mixed hardwood-pine forest types. In other words, efforts were made to fit the Society of American Foresters (1980) cover types with the climax types of Braun (1950) and the potential natural vegetation units of Kuchler (1966).

The major forest communities or forest zones of eastern North America are broad or wide in their spatial patterns unlike the narrow zonation characteristic of the forests of western North America. The "young" mountains of the western part of the continent are taller (in fact, still getting taller) and as a result have more elevation-based zonation of vegetation than do the geologically older and more eroded (lower) eastern mountains such as the Applachians or Ozarks. So too, are the soils of the Atlantic Coast more zonal (ie. major soil units are larger or broader in spational dimension like those of the vast continental interior whereas soils of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Slope ranges are more of the intrazonal spatial scale. See for illustration the national soil map of dominant soil orders and suborders (Soil Survey Staff, 1998).

Vankat (1979, p. 137) wrote that relief within the eastern deciduous forest "is quite variable" yet earlier Vankat (1979, p. 41) had also correctly noted that "low hills" were characteristic of much of this deciduous forest region. Again, contrast this with the extreme physiography of the Rockys or Sierra Nevada-Cascade Ranges.

The classic and still-definitive work on forests of eastern North America (approximately east of the 98^th meridian) is the life's work of Dr. Lucy Barun (1950). Braun interpreted this entire vegetation as one great forest formation existing as a mosaic of forest regions which in turn were made up of community units that she labeled variously as belts, areas, districts, sections, divisions, etc.

"The Deciduous Forest Formation of eastern North America is a complex vegetation unit most conspicuously characterized by the prevalence of the deciduous habit of most of its woody constituents. This gives to it a certain uniformity of phsiognomy, with alternating summer green and winter leafless aspects. Evergreen species, both broad-leaved and needle-leaved, occur in the arboreal and shrub layers, patticularly in seral stages and in marginal and transitional areas. They are not, however, entirely lacking even in some centrally loocated climax communities" (Braun, 1950, p. 31). "The Deciduous Forest Formation is made up of a number of climax associations differing from one another in floristic compositon, in physiogonomy, and in genesis or historical origin. While the delimitation of associations may be made on a basis of dominant species, and it is from these that the climax is named, dominants alone fo not suffice for the recognition of these units. … Although the delimitation in space of an association is difficult, if not impossible, it is entirely possible to recognize and to map forest regions which are characterized by the prevalence of specific climax types, or by mosaics of types. These regions are natural entities, generally with readily observable natural boundaries based on vegetational features. Forest regions must not be confused with climax associations. Even though a region is named for the climax association normally developing within it, it should not be assumed that the region is coextensive with the area where that climax can develop. Each of the several climaxes, although characterizing a specific region, nevertheless occurs in other regions." (Braun, 1950, p. 33-34). Braun (1950, ps. 35-37) listed nine forest regions making up the Deciduous Forest Formation of eastern North America:

Mixed Mesophytic Forest Region,
Western Mesophytic Forest Region,
Oak-Hickory Forest Region,
Oak-Chestnut Forest Region,
Oak Pine Forest Region,
Southeastern Evergreen Forest Region,
Beech-Maple Forest Region,
Maple-Basswood Forest Region, and
Eastern Hemlock-Eastern White Pine-Northern Hardwoods Region.

Braun (1950, ps. 11-12) interpreted these same combinations of species as forest communities at the scale (both spatial, mostly, and, also, temporal) of climax association from which, as quoted immediately above, Braun derived the names of forest regions. Braun (1950, ps. 11-12) distinguished between the association-abstract and the association-concrete, a distinction discussed in the review of the derivation of vegetation cover type from the concept of plant association. The Braun association is the association of F.E. Clements. Indeed the entire ecological paradigm on which Braun (1950, ps. 10-15) based her monographic treatment of the North American Deciduous Formation is Clementisan except allowance for and inclusion of edaphic and physiographic climaxes of Cowles, Tansley, etc. Vankat (1979, ps. 137-150) and Delcourt and Delcourt in Barbour and Billings (2000, ps. 365-378) described eastern deciduous forest vegetation under the Braun (1950) associations of the Clementsian model.

It is important to bear in mind that the Braun associations can occur in more than the one forest region bearing the name of the association (eg. the Oak-Pine Association commonly occurs and the Maple-Basswood Association infrequently occurs in parts of the Oak-Hickory Forest Region).

Several of the species combinations that delineate deciduous forest regions and associations were also used as forest cover types by the Society of American Foresters (Eyre, 1980) as for example White Pine-Hemlock (SAF 22), White Pine-Northern Red Oak-Red Maple (SAF 20), Sugar Maple-Basswood (SAF 26), and Beech-Sugar Maple (SAF 60). The Society of American Foresters emphasized that it's forest cover types were "based on existing tree cover" ("… forest as they are today…") and that some types may be climax while others are "transitory" (ie. seral stages leading to another climax).

Braun (1950, p. xiii) specified: "Some of the communities for which composition is given are readily referable to 'forest cover types' as defined by the Society of American Foresters". She then added, "However, an attempt to classsify all communities as to 'cover types' would be artificial" and often impossible. Undoubtedly this was due to the differences in classification by Braun's climax basis (with seral communities clearly specified) versus the existing or present-day forest communities basis of the SAF.

The Society for Range Management (Shiflet, 1994, p. xi) also specified the criterion of "existing vegetation" and that some rangeland cover types are climax and others are seral. The author of this collection of photographs and descriptions repeatedly reminded readers of this situation, but specified that most of the rangeland and forest cover types included herein were climax vegetation. That criterion exist for forest range types of the Eastern Deciduous forest Formation with most photographs being of either old-growth or second-growth forest with climax species composition as described in the classic literature such as Braun (1950) or Shelford (1963, ps. 17-119).

The nine forest regions of Braun (1950, ps. 35-37) were retained with little modification as series in the fairly comprehensive suystem of vegetation (primarily, climax; secondly, disclimax or subclimax) used in A Classification of North American Biotic Communities by Brown et al. (1998). Their organization of the Eastern Deciduous Forest Formation was: Oak-Hickory Series, Oak-Chestnut Series, Beech-Maple Series, Oak-Pine Series, Maple-Basswood Series, and Hemlock-white Pine-Mixed Hardwood Series within the Northeastern Deciduous Forest biotic community and Mixed Mesophytic Series and Pine Series within the Southeastern Deciduous and Evergreen Forest biotic community. The Brown et al. (1998) series were included following SAF and/or SRM cover type designations. Additional designations as for forest wetlands were shown as required.

Historical Footnote and Editorial

The consistent and persistent use of the eastern deciduous forest associations of Braun (1950) by the foremost contemporary ecologists provides the beginning student of Ecology with a textbook example of the necessity of learning the fundamental concepts— and the language(s) thereof —that are the foundation of his selected field of Biology. No ecological monograph, including those of John E. Weaver or Victor E. Shelford, ever used Clementsian concepts and terminology any more consistently or with any more practical application than did Braun (1950). All three of these (and there were others besides these) patriarchal ecologists of North American vegetation left future generations with not only the seminal but also the definitive treatises of the communities to which they devoted their professional lives.

Their like, their genre of comprehensive, panaramic, descriptive, first-hand accounts of vegetation on this grand scale, will not likely appear again before icicles hang in Hell. The contemporary research world is hung up on numbers, even generated or simulated (vs. real data) numbers often for numbers-sake alone, and especially numbers of publications. This has gone beyond Lord Kelvin's admonition to "express it in numbers", (indeed Kelvin used actual numbers derived from physical experiments) to the point that quantity is everything and quality (always subsidary to quantity) itself is based on numbers. Not only is there little room for Descriptive Ecology, but there is hardly more for descriptive analysis of experiments and observations because the gold-standard of refereed publications has descended, has been perverted, to the quantitative entity of LPU (Lowest Publishable Unit). A natural length paper based on objectives of the study is split into as many LPUs as possible to extend the author's bibliography. This procedure does not allow enough results to be included in any one paper to allow a discussion of findings from a comprehensive perspective. Besides the experimental procedure (complete with lots of numbers and split-nine-ways-to-Sunday replications) is the most important part according to anonymous peer-reviewers

In an institutional culture where "Publish or Perish" has become prostituted to a realm of pot-boiler papers written from predictable-outcome, piss-ant projects the next generation of Brauns, Weavers, Shelfords are "dead meat" if they devote (ie. sacrifice) their careers to document for eternity the kind of knowledge their "takes a lifetime" research produced. Such incredible work is left to not only the fully vested or tenured but the tenured full professor of independent financial means at career's end (and then there is not enough time left to do the work). A key factor in the creative genius and amazing productivity of Frederic E.Clements was that he was able to spend most of his career working for the rich Carnegie Foundation which freed him from the routine of classroom teaching and daily chores of academia thereby enabling him the luxury of a self-proclaimed "escaped professor" (Brewer, 1988, p. 503). Alternatively, the most lasting and useful research is the province of the academic martyr to whom pursuit of knowledge or satisfaction of curiosity are of higher utility than organizational rank and its financial renumeration.

Thus the Ecology student is left with the classical works of those "giants in the earth" who reigned when knowledge was the domain of a more leisurely, honest, genteel, and collegial time and culture.

The scholar of biblical texts cannot read just the several English translations of the Holy Bible. He must also understand the native tongues of Hebrew, Arabic, or Greek in which Holy Writ was written. So too with the "scripture" of Ecology. And the language of vegetation, at least North American vegetation, is Clementsian. The serious student of vegetation must be knowledgable and conversant in this language given that so much of the all-encompassing vegetation literature was written predominately from the view of Clementsian Ecology (and vocabulary). These original, monographic works remain the basis, however distant, of current investigations or even classifications of vegetation. The basic ecological concepts in such natural resource fields as Range Management and Forestry remain Clementsian at root (eg. the Clementsian association is the basis of the forest and range cover types as used in North America).

Any who would refuse to familarize themselves with Clementsian Ecology because there are exceptions to and alternative models for some of its general, long temporal-large spatial scales traverse the terrain of ecological literature half blind. In their zeal to reform the basic vegetation paradigm to include, justifiably, the exceptions they end up "throwing the baby out with the bath water".

Bottomland Forest- Example along a stream in the Ozark Plateau

The following slides and captions described a creek bottom hardwood forest in the Springfield Plateau section of the Ozark Highlands (Mountains) from perspectives of: 1) forest range and 2) plant succession or forest development (dynamics of a forest community). This forest range type was an example of the Society of American Foresters (Eyre, 1980, p. 65) cover type 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). It was an old-growth forest, but in spite of some hugh trees in the forest the vegetation was at subclimax stage developing into the forest community that is climax for this forest site. Trees of the climax forest community were still young and much smaller than some of the immense individuals of subclimax species. This tract of forest had been undisturbed for decades and it was questionable if any woodcutting had ever been done in this forest other than that associated with clearing of a narrow fenceline along one side of the property line that had been done at least 60 years prior to time of photographs.

This forest range community was described--to partial degree or some extent--by Nelson (1987, p. 52; 2005, p. 148) as mesic bottomland forest, but as shown below even when general descriptions were provided for the Ozark Plateau or Ozark Border there were inconsistencies between those and the vegetation that developed on this undisturbed tract of bottomland forest.

The first sequence of photographs of this bottomland forest presented the vernal aspect of the vegetation in which the herbaceous layers were at peak standing crop andjust prior to summer dormancy. Emphasis was laid on showing species composition and structure of this forest range when the greatest number and most important indicator species would be visible and flowering. This is the spring season, especially for the cool-season festucoid grasses that are dominants of the herbaceous layer of the understorey.

Plant species were described and shown in their spatial relations to each other, but without reference to their successional status or the dynamics of this forest range vegetation. Development of the forest community and dynamics in response to disturbance were discussed in the section that followed this one, and at the estival aspect when many of the herbaceous species had gone into dormancy.

1. A lot of players along the old channel- During some extraordinary flood in decades (probably centuries) past Modoc Creek eroded an accessory or overflow channel. When this Ozark Plateau stream returned to regular or normal flow (receded back to its normal channel) the newly cut, extraordinary flood channel remained as a denuded area that served as a sere on which plant succession progressed. Eventually a late seral or climax forest developed on/in this overflow . channel that had long since been abandoned by Modoc Creek which flowed in its regular channel tha runs parallel to the now-forested former flood channel.

The forest (stand might be a more precise term) that developed on bank and bed of the overflow stream channel was conterminous with forest vegetation along the regular channel of Modoc Creek and limestone bluffs above this stream as well as with the forest community (again, stand might be a more explicit term) on the floodplain between the two stream channels. There was a great diversity of tree species within this entire tract of floodplain forest including sycamore, eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides var. deltoides), black walnut, red mulberry (Morus rubra), box elder (Acer negundo), chinquapin oak, northern red oak (Quercus rubra), Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii var. shumardii), white ash (Fraxinus americana), sugar maple, bitternut or pignut hickory, American elm (Ulmus americana), red or slippery elm (U. rubra), and western hackberry (Celtis occidentalis var. canina). The successional status of these sundry species (at least some of them) was discussed in another section below.

Tree species on the high bank of the overflow stream channel (right side of photograph) were (left to right): Shumard oak, chinquapin oak, and pignut or bitternut hickory. Younger (smaller) trees on the low side of the channel (center and left of photograph) were hackberry and American elm. The woody vine was that of a species of grape (Vitis sp.). Dominant shrub was spicebush (Lindera bezoin); local associate shrub was buckbrush or coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus). Herbaceous dominant of this understorey was silky wildrye (Elymus villosus) with some Virginia wildyre (E. virgincus). Canada or hairy wood brome (Bromus purgans= B. pubescens) was also present but widely scattered and most frequent at bases of tree trunks.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May (vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). MesicBottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

2. Beneficiaries of many floods- Bottomland hardwood forest on the floodplain of Modoc Creek in western Ozark Plateau. Dominant of herbaceous layer(s) was silky wildrye with local patches of Virginia wildrye. Largest tree in both photographs was sycamore (right of center in midground of first photograph; right margin of midground of second photograph). Other trees included additional sycamore, hackberry, American elm, and chinquapin oak. Sapling in foreground of both photographs was American elm with Virginia creeper climbing in it. Spicebush and buckbrush were visible in both slides.

3. Spring verdure of floodplain forest- Early morning light showed herbaceous layer(s) of this botanically rich bottomland forest to good advantage. Silky wildrye (overall dominant herbaceous species) and Virginia wildrye at peak standing crop beautifully represented the feed value of this forest range and the climax cool-season grasses that provided it. Sycamore (big trunk in center midground) and northern red oak (big dark trunk at left margin) along with western hackberry and both American and red elm (smaller boles: poles and saplings) were the tree species present in this stand. Leaves in left foreground were hackberry.

It was obvious in this photograph that elms and hackberries were replacing sycamore which had very little regeneration, certainly nothing approaching that of hackberry and the two elm species of which American elm was the more abundant. More discussion on this dynamics was given later in this section.

4. Composition and structure of an Ozarks bottomland forest- The beauty as well as the botanical makeup and internal architecture of a mixed hardwood floodplain Ozark forest in full array of "spring fashion". Peak standing crop for grasses, all of which were cool-season, festucoid species. Silky wildrye was the dominant with Virginia wildrye the associate. Canada or hairy wood brome was present as robust but widely scattered individuals.

The second of these two photographs was a closer-in view of forest range vegetation presented in the first photograph. The smaller trees (pole-size) in foreground of both slides was hackberry which, along with American or white elm and red or slippery elm, made almost all of the young tree stock. (More on this development later in the show.) The largest tree (darker trunk at right midground of both slides) was northern red oak. The other two large trees (left midground) were sycamore. There was almost no reproduction of sycamore of northern red oak.

Most abundant shrub in these views of the forest community was buckbrush (eg. large bush in foreground).

5. Shadows and spring green-This "photo-plot" featured a young western hackberry (of smaller or younger adult age class) in front of an old sycamore symbolizing replacement of the latter by the former. This same trend was introduced in immediately precdeding slides. The successional relations between sycamore and western hackberry (also American and red elms) were described in the subsequent section that described this bottomland forest.

The shrub in right corner was a handsome specimen of spicebush. The more common and lower-growing shrub was buckbrush. The dominant (present everywhere) was silky wildrye. Local patches of Virginia wildrye accompanied it fellow Elymus species.

6. Verdant spring attire- Another view of the species composition and and interior structure of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest on the floodplain of an Ozark stream. Between the regular channel (for normal stream flow) and the ovrflow channel of Modoc Creek a species-rich forest range had developed. This photograph provided a different vantage point of some of the same vernal aspect vegetation introduced above. Point of peak standing crop and soft to hard dough stage of grain in the cool-season festucoid grasses that made up most of the heerbaceous understorey in the vernal society of this layer. Silky wildrye was the dominant with Virginia wildrye the associate herbaceous species. There were a few robust plants of Canada or hairy woody brome.

Largest tree (dark bark at right midground) was a northern red oak. The two other large trees (one in right midground; the other in right background) were sycamore.The four pole-size trees (including two in foreground) were hackberry. Virginia creeper was creeping up the trunk of the foremost hackberry.

Shrubs were mostly buckbrush in this shot of the understorey. Spicebush was generally the dominant shrub, but it and buckbrush were in two distinct woody layers: low-shrub and mid-to tall-shrub).

7. Sample of herbaceous sward- Vigerous specimen of silky wildrye The broad-leafed forb was pokeberry, pokeweed, or poke (Phytolaca americana). The trailing forb in foreground was cleavers or bedstraw (Gallium aparine), a minor (incidental) species.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. On the floodplain of Modoc Creek.

8. A pleasant and all-too-infrequent encounter- "Hale and hearty" individual of Canada or hairy wood brome (Bromus purgans= B. pubescens) growing near base of an equally hearty northern red oak. This decreaser grass is an indicator species. Its presence on this flood plain forest range indicated that any past overgrazing had been long enough ago so that this abuse-sensitive grass had recovered to the point of having some healthy individuals to show off to those appreciative of the finner things in life.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. On the floodplain of Modoc Creek.

9. A closer encounter- Panicle and spikelets of Canada or hairy wood brome of the plant shown in the preceding photograph. This is a climax grass of Ozark Plateau which has sadly become all too uncommon on forest ranges subjected to overgrazing by cattle (and in earlier years by hogs and horses).

Pubescence on bracts of spikelets is a typical identification feature of this species.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. On the floodplain of Modoc Creek.

10. Morning light on spring green- Two-slide sequence showing a panaramic (panned) view and a more species-specific (zoomed) view of the range plant community of a bottomland forest that had developed on the foodplain of a stream (Modoc Creek) in the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Plateaus physiographic province. The biggest (and rightward leaning) tree was an old-growth (and hollow) sycamore. The large tree with fine straight bole in right bacckground of first photograph and to right of leaning sycamore (but mostly concealed by leaves) in second photograph was a northern red oak (also an old-growth specimen). Other trees included more sycamore (too distant to be seen distinctly), black walnut (shown specifically in another photograph below), and chinquapin oak (right margin of the first of these two slides). Most of the smaller, younger trees (mostly sapling to pole age/size classes) were western hackberrn and American elm which were succeeding the pioneer and persistent sycamore, northern red oak, black walnut, and chinquapin oak. (This phenomenon was described in later parts of this section devoted to Ozark floodplain forests.)

Good examples of an American elm were the three foremost saplings in first of these two slides and in left foreground in the second photograph. Most of the pole-size tree in both slides were hackberry. The foremost tree at left margin was a mid-size white ash which, along with hackberry, American and red elms, and pignut or bitternut hickory were ascending to dominancy as this bottomland forest approached the climax stage of plant community development. summer grape (Vitis aestivalis) and fox or frost (V. vulpina= V. cordifolia) grew up into crowns of all the old-growth trees. Virginia creeper was even more common. American elm sapling in foreground.

The dominant shrub was spicebush with pawpaw surpassing buckbrush as the associate species in this closer to Modoc Creek. American bladdernut became a major shrub down closer to this stream.

In the herbaceous zone shown in both of these "photo-quadrants" silky and Virginia wildryes, the dominant and associate species, respectively, in most of the general herbaceous layer, were replaced in dominance in local habitats by wood nettle (Laportea canadensis). Slender nettle (Urtica gracilis= Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis ) was also present, but it did form exclusive, single-species colonies in the matter of wood neetle.

In regard to species diversity, plant families represented, forest structure, plant growth form, plant age distribution, microsite stands (eg. wood nettle), and even local disturbance due to blowdown and breakage from recent ice storms (covered below) this forest range was almost unparalled even by standards of a bottomland forest. In spring verdure it was of unsurprassed beauty, raw and sheer grandure as a sad reminder of what forests of the Ozark Plateau once were.

Of course no photograph could capture the rapture envoked by such beauty tempered with crawing ticks, webs of orb spiders in the face, and britches sopping-wet from dew. Some things simply have to be experienced personally and, better yet, when alone but for the presence of God.

11. Forest garden in the morning- Enough morning light penetrated the canopy of a floodplain forest along an Ozark Plateau stream (Modoc Creek) to provide more detail of species composition and structure of vegetational layers of this diverse stand that was introduced in the preceding two-slide set. This present photograph was taken from a different vantange point so that the large northern oak is no longer visible except in distant background (right margin). Tree regeneration was represented by the sapling age/size class. These trees were all western hackberry and American elm. There was no reproduction of sycamore in this "photo-transect". Sycamore (most in background) were all arge,mature (over-ripe) trees. Just beyond (to right) of this "photo-transect" larger trees were chinquapin oak and box elder with most regeneration that of white ash.

Prominent shrub species in foreground (eg. left margin, foreground) was spicebush. Pawpaw was also present as was buckbrush though this latter at much less cover than in the forest stand growing on the abandoned overflow channel of Modoc Creek shown in first photographs of this section.

The dominant herbaceous species in this slide was (as in portions of the understorey shown in preceding two photographs) wood neetle. Silky wildrye and Virginia wildrye (dominant and associate herbaceous species, respectively, in other parts of this understorey) were much less abundant closer to the regular-flow channel of Modoc Creek. Slender nettle was also present, but not as local patches like stinging neetle.

12. A stinging selection- Grazing by white-tail deer on shoot apices of wood nettle (Laportea canadensis). This species grew in large local colonies in a floodplain forest of such species as sycamore, western hackberry, American elm, box elder, white ash, black walnut, northern red oak, chinquapin oak, and eastern cottonwood. This specific colony grew near base of a sycamore and northern red oak.

13. Dynamics of forest vegetation- The key features of plant community ecology tracing Frederic E. Clements, to the most prominent founder of the specialty, were: 1) the ever-changing, cyclical pattern of vegetation and 2) temporary stability (climax) before disturbance set the sere in chage again. This photograph was an example of Clementsian vegetational dynamics in the bottomland forest that developed on the floodplain of Modoic Creek, a stream in the western edge of the Springfield Plateau of the Ozarks Plateau physiographic province.

Western hackberry and American elm were replacing pioneer tree species like sycamore, black walnut, and eastern cottonwood that had persisted to a late seral stage (subclimax). This photograph featured a mature black walnut with an amazingly tall bole in its prime being replaced by American elm (pole-size trunk to immediate right of the black walnut) and hackberry (represented by large shade leaves at top and right margin of slide), the ultimate climax tree species of this forest sere. The black walnut was actually overripe and already too far gone for valuable lumber. It was mostly hollow and serving as a bee tree (used as a hive by natualized honeybees [Apis mellifera]; entrance, hole from a dead limb, was on backside of tree as presented here). This walnut had just begun to shed limbs from its crown as shown by two dead ones leaning against or toward the left side of its trunk.

There were no seedlings of saplings of black walnut. This walnut had established on the sere at an early stage and persisted into the subclimax as an over-mature individual while those species that would be climax dominants established all around it. Black walnut has a tolerance rating of Intolerant as compared to that of Tolerant for box elder and Intermediate for hackberry and American elm (Wenger, 1984.ps. 2-3).

The dominant shrub was spicebush with buckbrush as the associate shrub. Pawpaw was also present. (Actually each of three species dominated a tall, middle, and low shrub layer (pawpaw, spicebush, and buckbrush, respectively). A small sapling of box elder was present (right margin of slide). There were no herbaceous species in this local habitat, the shade being too dense for species like the wildryes and wood nettle.

14. Bed on the bank: a forest forb and decreaser grass as indictor species- On part of a bank of an abandoned channel of Modoc Creek a "bed" (local stand) of southern or Virginia blue flag (Iris virginica) and silky wildrye had developed as part of the herbaceaous understorey of a bottomland forest composed of sycamore, eastern cottonwood, western hackberry, white ash, chinquapin oak, boxelder maple, northern red oak, black walnut, and American elm. This bank of the former overflow stream channel was made up of larger stones and gravel along with alluvial soil. The edaphic part of these species' habitat was fertile and well-drained. Duration of sunlight was limited to roughly half of the daily photoperiod only some of which received full-light intensity due to shade from nearby large trees.

Iris virginica is extremely rare in this locale and its presence here attested to the virgin environment of this old-growth floodplain forest. Silky wildrye is a decreaser native grass. These two herbaceous species indicated the climax (or near climax) state of the forest range described here.

On abandoned overflow channel of Modoc Creek. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May.

15. A bottomland bouque (or everybody's blooming)- Close-in view of a local stand of Virginia or southern blue flag and silky wildrye, both species of which were in full-bloom, in a bottomland forest of sycamore, western hackberry, chinquapin oak, northern red oak, American elm, black walnut, white ash, and eastern cottonwood. This pretty "photo-quadrant" presented details of the local herbaceous plant community that was introduced in the preceding slide.

On abandoned overflow channel of Modoc Creek. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May. Phenological stages: peak-bloom for southern blue flag, soft-dough stage for silky wildrye.

16. Floral treasures in the forest- Details of southern or Virginia blue flag (Iris virginica) on part of the bank of an abandoned overflow channel of Modoc Creek, a stream in western edge of Springfield Plateau of Ozark Plateau Region. Silky wildrye accompanied the native iris. Was there ever a more beautiful bouque?

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May. Phenological stages: peak-bloom for southern blue flag, soft-dough stage for silky wildrye.

17. Maturing spikes- Spikes of silky wildrye (Elymus villosus) in bottomland forest on the floodplain of an Ozark Plateau stream (Modoc Creek).

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July. Hard-dough phenological stage of silky wildrye.

18. Study of an understorey grass- Three-slide sequence showing sexual shoots of Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus) in forest understorey in western Ozark Plateau. Peak standing crop with grain in mid-dough phenological stage. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July.

19. Spikes in the shade- Examples of spikes of Virginia wildrye in understorey of western Ozark Plateau forest at mid-dopugh stage of phenology. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July.

20. Plant succession "ain't" always straight forward- The concept of tolerance is a cornerstone of forest succession. A discussion of this fundamental concept and the phenomena involved in it are beyond purview of this publication (at least at this juncture). A concise definition for this factor (or group of interacting afctors) in context of plant succession in forest vegetation seemed sufficient. "The capacity of trees to grow satisfactorily in the shade of, and in competition with other trees; if intolerant of shade, they are temred light demanders; if tolerant, shade bearers" (Helms, 1998). Tree and shrub species are rated as to their tolerance and givern rankings ranging from Very Tolerant to Intolerant (Wenger, 1984.ps. 2-4). Generally speaking woody plants that are Very Intolerant tend to be early seral or even pioneering species. Intolerant species that were major trees growing on the floodplain forest being considered here were eastern cottonwood, black walnut, hickories, black cherry, and sycamore. At the other end of the tolerance spectrum Very Tolerant species (sugar maple on bluffs along this floodplain forest) and Tolerant species (box elder in this bottomland forest) are generally dominants of climax forests. Tree and shrub species rated as Intermediate (eg. northern red oak, hackberry, American elm, and white ash on this bottomland forest) are also frequently climax dominants (or associate species to those with greater tolerance).

Forest Ecology is, of course, not a precise science in the fashion of Physics. Hence, forest succession and silvicultural application--including grazing/browsing management--are not as simple as spaceship design. Things are "more messy" in the biological sciences and their applied fields. With regard to the phenomenon of tolerance some species have tolerance ratings that are inconsistent or unclear or, satted more clearly perhaps, dependant on local site conditions. Sycamore, some hickories like bitternut or pignut hickory, hackberry, and American elm fall into this "shade of grey" category (Wenger, 1984, ps. 3-4). These species were dominant trees on the bottomland forest that developed on the floodplain of Modoc Creek used as an example of this forest range type.

These two photographs (the second a zoomed-in view of the overall view in the first) showed a local floodplain forest stand in which plant succession seemed somewhat "confused". This forest range vegetation was a small grove of mature white ash with most revealing (and confusing) lower layers. Greater detail of the forest range of this ash grove was discussed in the photograph following this set. The first lesson of forest range vegetation presented here was in the first of these photographs. The sapling in foreground and the larger tree (pole-size) in right midground were slippery or red elm which had regenerated as part of the climax forest vegetation. There were also seedlings (not visible) of chinquapin oak in the herbaceous understorey which was dominated by silky wildrye almost exclusively in this floodplain forest except for patches of stinging nettle (shown above).

Regeneration of chinquapin oak in this bottomland forest was consistent with existence of a sugar maple-chinquapin oak cover type and presence of chinquapin oak in bottomland forests where white ash is an associate species (Fralish and Franklin, 2002, p. 478-479). Burns and Honkala (1990) placed chinquapin oak in Intolerant rank, but they specified that young trees tolerated moderate shading (Intermediate tolerance rank) and became less shade-tolerant with advancing age. They concluded that chinquapin oak was a subclimax or even climax tree species on more mesic forest sites (Burns and Honkala, 1990). Red or slippery elm has generally been regarded as Tolerant so its general regeneration on this well-drained bottomland, including under cover of white ash, was consistent with silvics of this species.

The second and major lesson of these two slides was presence of sycamore at small sapling size in the shade of a dominant tree of the climax forest. It was explained in the first paragraph of this caption that sycamore was ranked as an Intolerant species yet one of varying tolerance response and thus some uncertainity of tolerance rating. Sycamore is also a very long-lived tree (by longevity standards of species comprising flora of this region). Sycamore is one of the first tree species to invade habitats of severe disturbance such as stream scouring and cutting of new stream channels (ie. a pioneer species), but it subsequently persist to the stage of subclimax or even climax.forest. This silvic feature combined with rapid growth rate is why sycamore is the largest-diameter tree and one of the tallest-growing hardwood species in North America. Fralish and Franklin (2002, p. 483) published similar conclusions regarding sycamore.

If this little sycamore sapling "played by rules" of plant succession it would not be here. But there it was: an Intolerant species had reproduced and was doing just fine beneath adults trees that were climax dominants of this forest cover type. Here was photographic evidence of the unclear tolerance ranking--and the successional status--of sycamore. The specifics of forest succession have yet to be determined conclusively. Perhaps they can never be because they do not aways "stick to the successional script".

Plant succession may not always be direct and simple, but it is "cool". Sycamore remains a member--one of the biggest ones--of the climax bottomland forest.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. June.

21. Climax pals- Silky wildrye, the overall dominant species of the herbaceous understorey, and white ash, one of the climax dominant trees, were the principal plants of a floodplain forest in the western Ozark Plateau (Springfield Plateau thereof). Sharing the "spotlight", that ever-shifting shaft of sunlight that was a (perhaps the) major abiotic factor in this forest, was Virginia creeper (climbing the left white ash trunk) and buckbrush (to immediate left of the left trunk). The most revealing "understudies" in this local lineup of species were seedlings of white ash and Americanaelm (foreground; in front of the left bole of white ash).

Regeneration of these latter two tree species was evidence of their status as dominant trees of the climax bottomland forest. Continued presence of silky wiildrye inside the grove of white ash testified to role of this cool-season grass as the general dominant of the herbaceous understorey and main forage species in this forest. The principal forb was purple Joe Pye weed. All-in-all, a very revealing local "photo-quadrant".

Floodplain of Modoc Creek. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. June.

This bottomland forest now being described had developed in the flood plain of Modoc Creek between the old creek channel and the current channel. Forest range vegetation varied with distance from current and former creek channels. The dynamic development of forest vegetation was of such time scale as to a study in "still life", but this ecological drama in the forest stage presented one undeniable successional fact:: The Old Order Passeth Away...

22. The billboard cast of a bottomland forest- General view of a subclimax bottomland forest dominated by the aged or senior actors of sycamore and eastern cottonwood with a supporting arboreal cast including hackberry or western hackberry, American elm, pignut or bitternut hickory, slippery or red elm, chinkapin (chinquapin) oak, black cherry, black walnut, box elder, red mulberry, northern red oak, and Shumard oak. The largest trees were individuals of sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and chinquapin oak though some trees of northrn red oak, Shumard oak and box elder were almost as large. There were more species of trees than of shrubs and the more common herbaceous species.

The most abundant tall shrub was pawpaw (Asimina triloba) which formed local groves or colonies from estensive rootstocks. Hazlenut (Corylus americana) was a taller shrub that was also present though at much lower cover and density. A lower shrub layer was dominated overall by spicebush (Lindera benzoin), but closer to the current creek channel American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia) was dominant with dense colonies at local scale. Large woody vines of grape extended from ground to tops of canopies of the tallest trees. Grapes were of two species: summer grape (Vitis aestivalis) and fox or frost (V. vulpina= V. cordifolia).

The upper herbaceous layer was dominated by colonies of Virginia wildrye and silkly wildrye (local consociations). These cool-season grasses had green--though small--basal shoots throughout autumn and winter and became dormant by late spring or early summer. Other major herbaceous species were tall nettle (Urtica dioica var. procera), slender nettle (U. gracilis= U. dioica . var. gracilis), and wood nettle (Laportea canadensis), both members of the nettle family (Urticaceae) followed by purple or green-stemed Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum) which grew in groups of widely speced individuals, and lopseed. These forbs persisted throughout the warm-growing season. Another common and colony-forming forb (though one having shorter growing season) was Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophylloum virginianum) and bigleaf waterleaf (H. canadense). Thes spring-blooming forbs dominated the lowest level of the herbaceous vegetation layer in this bottomland forest range.

The species composition of this largely undisturbed (ie. direct human impact had been minimal to non-existent) bottomland forest was meaningful different from the currently most-apt descriptions of natural forest vegetation (Nelson, 1987 and Nelson, 2005 for mesic bottomland forest) that corresponded to the creek floodplain forest described here. Nelson (1987, p. 52) included western hackberry and bitternut hickory as dominant species and Shumard oak as a characteristic species. Nelson (2005, p. 148) omitted hackberry, but did list both American and slippery or red elm along with black walnut as dominant species. Neither Nelson (1987) nor Nelson (2005) listed chinquapin oak, box elder, or black cherry as even being present in mesic (or dry-mesic) bottomland forests in the Ozark Plateau or Ozark Border. Neither sugar maple nor white oak, dominant tree species according to Nelson (1987, 2005), were present in this creek bottom forest although sugar maple dominated an east-facing on the other side of Modoc Creek.

Furthermore, both versions of Nelson (1987, 2005) listed numerous forbs as herbaceous species while largely ignoring grasses. On the forest range described here two species of wildrye overwhelming dominated much of the herbaceous layer of this forest. Also, Nelson (1987, 2005) did not list purple or green-stemed Joe Pye which was one of the dominant forbs of this bottomland forest. Virginia waterleaf was listed (Nelson, 1987, 2005), but this was a minor species--both spatially and temporally--compared to the wildryes, Joe Pye weed, and tall nettle.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). MesicBottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Critical qualifying observation: the fungus (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi)-caused Dutch elm disease spread by Elm bark beetles (Hylurgopinus rufipes and Scolytus multistriatus) had catastrophic impacts on both American and slippery elms in the area of this climax hackberry-American elm bottomland forest. Elm phloem necrosis is another common disease of these two elm species in this same area. This disease is caused by a mycoplasma-like organism ( a kind of virus) for which the whitebanded elm leafhopper (Scaphoideus luteolus) is the vector. Both of these diseases commonly kill many elm trees throughout this region of the western portion of the eastern deciduous forest formation.

In fact, it is often difficult for other than forest pathologists or other trained specialists to tell whether a given elm died of Dutch elm disease or elm phloem necrosis. For unknown reasons neither of these two widespread diseases that are common to the Ozark Highlands (and that have destroyed millions of elms) was not a factor--at least, not enough of a factor-- to eliminate American elm and or the less common slippery elm from the forest described below. This is not to say that either or both of these diseases were absent, but only that they did not prevent American elm from becoming the co-dominant of this climax forested range plant community.

23. The stage and introduction of the principal actors- An old (apparently the prior) channel--bed and banks--of Modoc Creek was evident on this bottomland (floodplain of Modoc Creek) forest range. Growing along the banks of the earlier channel were immense individuals of sycamore, eastern cottonwood, northern red oak, and Shummard oak. At greater distance from the old channel banks (as well as from current channel) there were chinquapin oak, box elder, and some(fewer) white ash (Fraxinus americana). Hackberry (also designated as western hackberry; Celtis occidentalis) and American elm plus some box elder and bitternut hickory were the primary species of younger trees (including those with on-going regeneration). These were growing by the old (prior or former) stream banks and outward from them (= landward from stream) as well as in between both old and current stream channels. Red mulberry was present as a smaller tree in the taller shrub/sapling layer along with American bladdernut and American hazelnut.

Sycamore and eastern cottonwood (typically pioneer species or colonizers) unquestionably had the oldest (and largest) trees, but it would be erroneous to equate all differences in size to differences in age as this would ignore different rates of growth (or, same thing, assume equal growth rates) among tree species. Obviously such was (is) not the case. For example, eastern cottonwood is one of the fastest-growing hardwood species in North America (Burns and Honkala, 1990, p. 530). Regardless, it was self-evident that sycamore and eastern cottonwood had become established on bare gravel or soil on banks of the old channel and subsequently persisted into the subclimax (or early climax) stage of this bottomland forest.

Large specimens of the two grape species grew up to tops of tallest sycamores and cottonwoods. Notable by their absence in this plant community were other species of woody vines such as Virginia creeper, trumpet creeper, and (more-or-less) poison oak/ivy, There were some individuals of bullbriar or catbriar (Smilax bona-nox). Other shrubs included pawpaw (the dominant and colony forming, taller shrub), spicebush (overall major shrub) and American bladdernut, the two species that costituted a middle shrub layer, and buckbrush or coralberry which formed the sporadic or discontinuous lowest shrub layer.

Throughout most of the growing portion of the year--both cool- and warm-seasons--there was a single herbaceous layer extending to a height of three to four feet. This was dominated during the cool-season portion of the growing season by local--typically separate--colonies of Virginia and silky wildryes. Elymus species were in dormancy during most of the warm- growing season (typically dormant by late spring or early summer). Dominants of the herbaceous layer during summer and sutumn were three forbs (all of which grew in colonies or local consociations): tall nettle, wood nettle, and green-stemed or purple Joe Pye weed. Virginia waterleaf and a few incidental forbs made up a lower herbaceous layer in late winter to mid-spring.

Various species of fuungi and lichen grew on downed logs and limbs and on rotting leaves on the soil surface.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

24. Curtain rise as the cast rises from the old channel- Vertical view down a former channel of Modoc Creek along which pioneer sycamore and eastern cottonwood persisted into the late subclimax or early climax stage of vegetation that developed into ths moist bottomland forest. At some later stage(s) following the pioneer plant community northern red oak and Shummard oak became established along the sere of this forest vegetation. These trees also persisted into the current subclimax or climax range plant community. Large woody shoots of summer grape and fox or frost grape extended into the crowns of these trees, especially sycamore and eastern cottonwood.

The two smaller (younger) foremost trees (left and right bank of previous creek channel) were hackberry. The tall shrub to right of the left bank hackberry was American bladdernut. Large tree in center midground was a dead sycamore. A pole-sized hackberry was growing to left of this sycamore. Large tree in background was eastern cottonwood.

Shrubs in this view of the bottomland forest were spicebush and buckbrush or coralberry.

Straw in the herbaceous layer of the understorey was of recently gone dormant Virginia and silky wildryes. Green leaves in the herbaceous layer were those of purple or green-stemed Joe Pye weed, tall nettle, and wood neetle.

Some of the lower green leaves were those of seedlings and small saplings of western hackberry and American elm (the climax tree species with most sexual reproduction), bitternut hickory (a less abundant climax tree species), and, least of all, box elder.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

25. Oldsters along the old channel: the old order, and the new- A previous stream channel of Modoc Creek was still the home to pioneer sycamore and eastern cottonwood (large trees in background) as well as northern red oak (eg. second left-leaning tree trunk on right bank) and Shummard oak, but this old order was giving way in the progression of plant succession to hackberry and America elm (eg. the nice, big, foremost left-leaning tree trunk on right bank), and bitternut hickory. The left of center tree with gray bark in far foreground or near midground was chinquapin (chinkapin) oak. The successional status of chinquapin oak was unknown, but its presence suggested a status of subclimax to climax on this forest range site. Chinquapin oak was regarded as Intolerant and yet to be subclimax to climax on mesic, limestone-origin soils (Burns and Honkala, 1990, p. 699), en edaphic condition met on this site. Large woody vines of summer and fox grape traced across the old stream channel into crowns of the tallest trees.

The straw was that of colonies of Virginia wildrye and silky wildrye that were dormant at this point in early summer. Most shrubs were spicebush, coralberry or buckbrush, and American bladdernut. No forbs were visible in this forest range scene.

This bottomland hardwood forest range was in the western Ozark Highlands (Mountains), part of the Springfield Plateau, just a few miles from eastern edge of the Cherokee Prairie of the Central Lowlands physiographic province. Species like eastern cottonwood, American elm, chinquapin oak, and the wildryes were botanical proof of the affinity of these two distinct yet contiguous floristic regions.

The bottomland habitat on which this forest had developed was formed when the perennially flooding Modoc Creek underwent a large enough flood and other "just right" conditions to form another channel which left the former creek channel high and dry. At that time (when the new--the latest or more recent--channel of Modoc Creek was carved in its floodplain), the old channel became just a geologic reminder of the dyamic nature of streams. The former riparian habitat (a kind of wetland) along the banks of Modoc Creek was changed into a slightly elevated, mesic habitat that ultimately became nothing but a rise with a "haired-over" (vegetated), meandering, dry ditch down the middle. The pioneering sycamore and eastern cottonwood and the somewhat later invading oaks (northern red, Shummard, chinquapin) continued to grow on banks and bed of the previous channel of Modoc Creek. But the growing and, eventually, large trees of these early seral species did reproduce (sexually or asexually). They did not replace their own kind in the shade they cast (ie. they did not replace themselves in the habitat they modified). The individual plants of these species had modified their environment (affected soil, air currents in the forest, God only knows what else) so that the changed habitat was "improved" (made more amenagle) for the next stage on this sere which, in this case, was the climax.

This was the phenomenon of reaction in the Clementsian model of plant succession or what was later labeled the facilitation model by (Connell and Slatyer, 1977). The other relevant phenomenon of the Clementsian paradigm was competition. The pioneering and persistent (through longevity) sycamores and cottonwoods--large though they were and commanding the canopy as they did-- still, and simply put, could not compete effectively with western hackberry, American elm, bitternut hickory, box elder or, even, black cherry. The latter were the new--and presumedly final order--on the sere of this floodplain forest range. The former (subclimax) dominants were the old order that, having had their successional moment in the sun, surrendered the "ground" they had modified (reaction in action) to the final cast of characters at termination of this sylvan play. These as-the-curtain-falls actors were the dominants of the potential natural vegetation, the climax forest that bore their names as that of the forest cover type.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

26. Views down the channel: "The Times They Are A'changin'"- The title line from the old protest song of Bob Dylan (1964) summed up the dynamics of this forest range vegetation. These two photographs provided a farther and a closer view of species composition and structure of a mesic bottomland forest in the western portion of the Ozark Highlands by focusing on the forest community that had developed on the old (previous) channel of Modoc Creek. Both the long and short focal perspectives provided a classic example of change in forest plant species with progression of plant succession. This was an example of the Clementsian model of dynamic vegetation.

The largest tree (right center midground) was an old-growth specimen of northern red oak. The large tree to right of this northern red oak, the upper trunk of which leaned right, was an old-growth Shummard oak. Incidentially both of these oak species are generic red oaks (Erythrobalanus subgenus of Quercus). The two trunks opposite of the old-growth northern red oak (left side of creek channel) were sycamore. So much for the pioneer sycamore and later seral red oaks, these stalwarts of the old order. The new order--the forest climax--which, in the grand scheme of forest development (plant succession; the dynamics of vegetation) was ousting the Old Arboreal Guard, was that of western hackberry (the major climax dominant), American elm, and bitternut hickory.

Box elder and, to less extent, black cherry were also well-represented by younger trees of large pole-size but, like chinquapin oak in the preceding photograph, the successional status of these two species was unknown, although they appeared to be subclimax or climax. Black cherry was classed as Intolerant (Wenger, 1990, p. 3), yet it "grows very fast" (Burns and Honkala, 1990, p. 599). Perhaps rapid growth was an adaptation that enabled black cherry to survive in this bottomland forest. Furthrmore, in this author's observation, black cherry propagates readily in the understorey of oak-hickory and bottomland forests in the western Ozark Plateau and, as was shown below in the Use and Abuse portion of this chapter below, factors such as fire and browsing prevented greater density and cover of black cherry in these forest ranges. A tolerance rating of Intolerant did not seem appropriate for black cherry on these Ozark forest types (including this largely undisturbed, creek bottom forest).

In the first of these two photographs there were two western hackberry trees growing in fromt of the sycamores (left midground) while a straight-trunked black cherry grew in right foreground. In the second (closer-in or short view) photograph only one of the two foremost hackberry trees was visible. In both photographs the hackberry growing to left and slightly behind the old-growth northern red oak was visible. Hackberry was clearly in the successional ascendency.

Most shrubs in these photographs were spicebush (eg. center shrub--and in center of old creek channel--in second of these photographs) with buckbrush or coralberry being the second most abundant in these views of this forest vegatation (eg. foreground of first slide by black cherry).

The straw was that of recently gone-dormant Virginia and silky wildryes.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

27. The action scene: changing of the guard- In a bottomland (floodplain) forest along a stream (Modoc Creek) in the Ozark Highlands sycamore and eastern cottonwood had pioneered this former creek channel (now esentially the first stream terrace) and were being replaced by the climax dominants which were hackberry, American elm, and bitternut hickory (often a north-slope dominant with sugar maple). Box elder and chinquapin oak appeared to be other climax (at least, subclimax) tree species on this site along with climax spicebush, American bladdernut, pawpaw, Virginia and silky wildryes, purple Joe Pye weed, tall nettle, and wood nettle. Successional status of black cherry on this creek bottom forest site was not known. On drier upland habitats buckbrush or coralberry was locally common. On moister drainages into the current stream channel American bladdernut was a local dominant shrub.

Two photographs presented a long view (first slide) and a shorter or closer view (second slide) of this floodplain forest vegetation. In the center foreground (both slides) was a pioneer (ultimately a large and very old) sycamore that had died two years prior to time of photographs (a two-year old snag). The two-year sycamore snag died without replacement progeny was being replaced instead by: western hackberry (young sapling immediately to right of the bark-exfoliating snag; also, tree at right margin of foreground in the first slide only), bitternut hickory (tree immediately to left of snag; also leaves of sapling in left corner foreground), and American elm (tree to left of the bitternut hickory that was immediately to left of snag) along with fewer and more scattered box elder. The shrub in front of and slightly to left side of sycamore snag was spicebush, the dominant shrub in this creek bottom forest. Behind the sycamore snag with its flaking bark and the young hackberry growing immediately to right of the dead sycamore (center background of both slides) was a pioneer tree of eastern cottonwood. Straw in foreground extending back to midground consisted of colonies of Virginia and silky wildryes, the former somewhat more abundant.

Long-lived sycamore and eastern cottonwood persisted into the subclimax or early climax forest much Douglas-fir foes on certain forest cover types. Sycamore and cottonwood were not regenerating on this bottomland site. Tolerance ratings of sycamore, eastern cottonwood, American elm, and box elder by the Society of American Foresters (Wenger, 1984, ps.2-3) were Intermediate, Very Intolerant, Intermediate, and Tolerant, respectively though with some uncertainty for sycamore and American elm.

Like the preceding slides this was a two-photograph sequence that provided both a long and short view of mesic bottomland forest range with an emphasis on dynamics of vegetation with the progression of forest development (ie. community and species changes with progression of plant succession).

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

28. Close in scene of the leading characters-Third photograph in a series with the same point of focus to provide consecutively greater detail on the featured plant, a two-year-dead sycamore. "Old as a big tree' (or "as big as an old tree") was not old (or big) enough enough to save this old sycamore from the ultimate end of all things mortal or, more meaningful from the perspective of vegetation, from the inevitable changes as a sere progresses through plant succession to the climax, the final or terminal plant community for that forest or range site. This large sycamore, which was introduced in the immediately preceding two-slide set, had pioneered the fresh, denuded sere on the bank of a new-cut channel of Modoc Creek decades, a century, (or however long) ago. Since the creation of that channel, Modoc Creek flooded again and formed another channel resulting in abandonment and isolation of the previous stream channel. The by-now established sycamore and eastern cottonwoods (probably along with northern red, Shumards, and some chinquapin oaks) continued to grow on the land of the old channel which remained as a terrace of the Modoc Creek floodplain.

As geomorphic and successional time passed the pioneering sycamore and eastern cottonwood and the somewhat-later invading oaks (northern red, Shummard, chinquapin) continued to grow on banks and bed of the previous channel.The growing and, eventually large, trees of these early seral species did not reproduce (sexually or asexually), at least not at rates sufficient to be competitive with more reproductively effective tree species. The pioneering and seral tree species did not replace their own kind in the shade they cast. Instead these trees modified their habitat so that other (later-appearing) species of trees out-reproduced the early colonizing and other seral tree species. Older and bigger individual sycamores, eastern cottonwoods, and red oaks persisted in the forest, but they did not replace themselves in the habitat they modified. At least, they did not replace their own species as prolifically as did the tree species that were newer to the sere. The successionally more advanced species produced more progeny than the earlier seral species Successionally advanced species were more competitive because they produced (and continued to produce) more offspring so that as old trees of sycamore, eastern cottonwood, northern red oak, and Shumard oak died the remaining members of their respective species made up ever-smaller proportions of the forest vegetation, especially in the light-controlling canopy. With these disproportionate rates of regeneration over a long enough span of time hackberry, American elm, bitternut hickory, and box elder eventually replaced (or largely so) sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and the red oaks.

This on-going struggle for control of the bottomland Ozark forest--and for survival of species on the sere of this floodplain forest site--was poignantly visible in this third photograph that featured the sycamore snag and successor species. In addition to the previously shown hackberry sapling (immediate right of snag), bitternut hickory (left of snag), and American elm (left of bitternut hickory) there were more western hackberry (two at far left midground and more behind and to right of them) and bitternut hickory (eg. left leaning tree behind and to left of sycamore snag). Several of the trees farther back were box elder. Again, shrub in front and slightly to left of snag was spicebush, the dominant shrub species. Also shown again was one of the pioneering eastern cottonwoods (right background).

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

29. A view from the opposite side of the stage: enter the new order- The featured two-year-old sycamore snag, the "landmark" of this series, was shown from the other end of the former channel of Modoc Creek to present other species in "successional ascendency" on this sere of an Ozark Plateau bottomland forest. Besides the previously referenced sapling of western hackberry (left front of snag) and faded straw of Virginia and silky wildrye, this view featured a box elder (crooked trunk in left foreground), a Tolerant species that was ascending into the climax forest vegetation. Readily visible leaves of hackberry (upper left) and bitternut hickory (blurred; upper center) along with flaking bark on the sycamore snag emphasized the Clementsian dynamics of this forest vegetation. Forbs in left midground (to left of snag) were a colony of purple or green-stemed Joe Pye weed.

This was an opportune place to re-emphasize that this was--based on local folk knowledge and biological-physical evidence (eg. absence of stumps and slash)--a humanly undisturbed forest. It was an out-of-the-way, isolated tract of forest protected by its owner and a limestone bluff.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

30. Succession in the "dead of winter"- On the floor of a mixed hardwood floodplain forest beside and beneath a towering, tobbling snag of a dead sycamore (it apparently of natural causes or "old age" five years ago) there were saplings of western hackberry, bitternut (pignut) hickory, black walnut, and box elder (left to right, respectively, at left to center. (Two closer-in views or "photoplots" of the base of the snag and saplings were presented in the immediately following slide-caption set.) The large pole-sized tree at far-right midground was a box elder. Also--though not visible in the leafless state of winter dormancy-- were seedlings of northern red oak, western hackberry, box elder, American elm, white ash (Fraxinus amereicana), and black walnut (in that apparent relative order of regeneration). All of these relatively large saplings (or small pole-sized trees depending on individual interpretation) had been growing prior to death of the sycamore whose shade had suppressed them (and the elimination of which facilitated their release and increased growth rates). There were no seedlings of sycamore.

Most of the green ground cover was common chickweed (Stellaria media; a naturalized, Eurasian, annual, cool-season weed) with lesser amounts of purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum; annual, naturalized, Eurasian weed). There were some plants of Canada wildrye and Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii) along with false rue anemone (Isopyrum biternatium), the dominant cool-season native forb .

Death of this immense tree and the space created by its opening in the forest canopy was a forest gap or disturbance patch. This phenomenon and a more complete list of forest plant species that eithr colonized and/or were already present to lesser exztent prior to death of the sycamore were presented in subsequent slide-caption sets immediately following the next close-up two slide-caption set of this disturbance gap in winter.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December (hibernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

31. New life amind death and the "dead of winter"- In a mixed hardwood bottomland forest two views of details of the lower trunk of huge sycamore snag about five years after it died (apparently of "old age", natural aging process) with large saplings of small pole-sized trees of bitternut hickory (leftmost pole in first slide), box elder (second pole from left in second slide), and western hackberry (center foreground, first slide; first pole from left, second slide). The hackberry had been completely girdled by bark-feeding beaver (Castor canadensis) so that-- has shown in the immediately following slides--it had been topkilled (and resprouted from base of girdled trunk;). Most of the herbaceous layer (lower, green-coloration) was cover of the naturalized, Eurasian, annual weeds, common chickweed and, in lesser abundance, purple dead-nettle.

All of the saplings (or small pole-size trees, as the case may be) had been growing prior to death of the over-towering sycamore, but they had been suppressed by its shade and, sonsequentially, were released by its death (removal of growth-suppressing shade). There were no seedlings or saplings of sycamore, a tree species with a tolerance rating of Intolerant (Wenger, 1984).

The next three slide-caption sets showed this exact location five months later.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December (hibernal vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

32. Forest succession in slow motion- On the immediate floodplain (first terrace) of a typical stream in the Ozark (Springfield) Plateau a mixed hardwood bottomland forest was undergoing forest succession in the late subclimax to early climax stage. This photographic portrayal of plant succession began with a three-slide set that amounted to a "nested series" of "photoquadrants" to present the drama of vegetation development at progressively nearer camera distances. The subject was a snag of a huge sycamore that had been dead--apparently of natural causes--for about five (maybe, six) years and the younger trees that were replacing the former forest king sycamore. The rotting snag had lost and was continuing to loose rotten limbs to the forest floor. Beside the ancient, dead-of-old-age sycamore were replacement trees (large saplings or small poles) of the supplanting species: western hackberry, bitternut (pignut) hickory, black walnut, and box elder (left to right, respectively).

Sycamore, with a tolerance rating of Intolerant, had pioneered on this patch of ground on which forest litter had been washed away leaving mineral soil. For several decades (roughly seveny to eighty years as best determined from local memory and rings on stumps of similar-aged trees) this colonizing tree had dominated this patch of creek bottom. About twelve to fifteen years before death (or any sign of ill health or, even, senescence) of the giant sycamore seedlings of other species appeared under the crown of the apparently healthy, adult, pioneer sycamore. There were no seedlings of this (or any other) sycamore to be found. Instead baby trees were those of American (white) elm and some slippery (red) elm plus hackberry and bittternut hickory with fewer seedlings and saplings of northern red oak, box elder, and even black walnut. It was obvious to the "ecological eye" that sycamore was being superceded by almost all other hardwood species except eastern cottonwood, another colonizing species represented by a few large individuals on this bottomland tract of forest. This slow-motion "movement in the woods" was vegetational dynamics (F.E. Clements' dynamic vegetation) on the sere of this floodplain forest range.

Beaver had girdled and thus topkilled the hackberry which had short, resprouted shoots at its base. There were seedings of box elder, northern red oak, chinquapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergia), and black walnut in the "new land" of this forest patch or gap created by death of this elderly forest giant. There were zero seedlings of sycamore. The tolerance rating of Intolerant for sycamore (Wenger, 1984) was certainly in evidence in this forest gap.

Forest plants in the lower woody and herbaceous layers included seedlings of major tree species (except for sycamore), American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia ), Virginia creeper, poison oak/ivy among shrubs and Canada wildrye, Davis' caric sedge, pokeberry or pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), common wood-nettle or Canada woodnettle (Laportea canadensis), common chickweed, and false rue anemone. Pokeberry and wood-nettle were the locally dominant warm-season forbs while the alien (and now naturalized) chickweed was the dominant cool-season forb and false rue anemone was the most native common forb in winter through mid-spring.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May (advanced vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

33. Beneath a former floodplain giant- Amid the rubble of a partly toppled crown of a dead (apparently of "old age" or natural causes) sycamore on a mixed hardwood bottomland forest there were seedlings (especially visible on foreground of this "photoplot") of northern red oak, western hackberry, box elder, American elm, white ash, and black walnut (in that apparent relative order of regeneration), but no seedlings of sycamore. The Intolerant tolerance of sycamore (Wenger, 1984) was obvious from its lack of reproduction. The climax dominants (co-dominants) on this forest site of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest were hadckberry and American (white) elm. The Tolerant tolerance rating of box elder (Wenger, 1984) also explained its widespread presence throughout the forest under all "shades of shade". Likewise, tolerance rating of Intermediate (Wenger, 1984) explained the considerable reproduction of northern red oak and, to somewht lesser degree, that of white ash in the forest gap or disturbance patch formed by death of the huge sycamore.

The intermediate-height layer of forest vegetation in midground of this slide was primarily American bladdernut and Canada woodnettle with some Canada wildrye and pokberry (most of this latter was immediately the "curtain" of bladdernut and wood-nettle.

33. Young life amind the rubble of death- Floor of a disturbance gap in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest created when a giant sycamore died (apparently of natural aging) resulting in increased light a more favorable growing environment for plants in the lower woody and herbaceous layers. Plants in this "photoplot" of the forest floor were all woody species and included two lianas, poison ivy/oak and Virginia creeper, and seedlings of northern red oak, hackberry, box elder, and white ash.

The sycamore had been dead for about five years. All tree seedlings were probably younger than five years of age having germinated/emerged at various times after death of the light-excluding sycamore.

34. Baby stand; future forest- Forest succession on the outer edge of a gap formed by death of an old-growth sycamore in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. The sycamore, which appeared to have died "of old age", had been dead for about five years. The range vegetation in this "photographic sample" of the forest gap included woody and herbaceous species. There were seedlings of the following tree species (individual seeedlaings left to right, respectively): bitternut hickory, northern red oak, chinquapin oak, and northern red oak. Also present were shoots of the shrub, American bladdernut and the locally dominant grass, Canada wildrye.

An important indicator of forest succession was absence of seedlings of sycamore, a colonizing and Intolerant tree species (Wenger, 1984).

35. Baby trees and a tall forb- Seedling of northern red oak (first slide) and (in second slide, left and right, respectively) seedling of black walnut and young shoot of the perennial forb, cup-plant (Silphium perfoliatum) at outer edge of a gap that formed in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest with death of a huge sycamore the passing of which permitted increased light to produced a local environment more favorable for other plant species. There were no seedlings of sycamore, an Intolerant species (Wenger, 1984).

Progression of succession- Forest scene as a "photo-dendrogram" that centered on a sycamore snag which had been dead for about five years and surrounded with replacement tree species in this forest gap. This was the same dead, old-growth sycamore featured in above slides and the center of attention in this section devoted to forest succession in a gap created by natural death at old age of this tree. Sycamore is a species that pioneers on more-or-less bare soil created by dissturbance and then with its longevity persist into the climax forest.

The tall tree to left of the snag was immature adult of black walnut (Juglans nigra). Tall tree to right of snag was a young (also immature) bitter or pignut hickory (Carya cordiformis). The half crown at far right margin was of a northern red oak. The understorey consisted of an herbaceous layer dominated by silky, Virginia, and Canada or nodding wildryes (Elymus villosus, E. virginicus, E. canadensis) with some Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii) and a lower woody (shrub) layer of spicebush (Lindera benzoin), American bladdernut (Stpahylea trifolia), fox grape (Vitis vulpina), buckbrush or coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus), and saplings of the various tree species including northrn red oak, hackberry, American elm, black walnut, white ash, box elder, and chinquapin oak.

Further successional progression- The next series of slides was taken four years after the above photographic sequence. At this point in time the snag of the dead old-growth sycamore had crashed to the floodplain of Modoc Creek and began to return "borrowed nutrients" to the alluvial soil that had so richly nourished it over course of its long life in this mixed hardwood forest.

Crashed to its terrestrial grave- Snag of the old-growth sycamore that was featured so prominently above because for so many years it had figured so importantly in this Ozark Plateau forest ecosystem. Younger, smaller neighboring trees, including western or common hackberry, bitternut (also called pignut) hickory, black walnut, chinquapin oak, and box elder (see again above slides for details), that had been present and remained alive under the sycamore snag were still present. There were now also seedlings and young saplings of northern red oak.

The main shrub in these two "photographic plots" (and the main one that increased after death of the sycamore and loss of its shading impact) was American bladdernut and, secondly, spicebush, both native species. The lianas, fox grape and lesser cover of poison ivy were also present as were forbs which had gradually increased in cover and density since death of the previously shading sycamore. The most important of these forbs was pokeberry. Other forbs included common wood-nettle or Canada woodnettle and the naturalized (from India) annual weed beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens). There was substantial cover of both Canada and silky wildryes.

Rotting away- The log of the sycamore that died of natral causes and which was introduced and its decomposition followed above was shown in this slide at a further state decomposition. Shown at this angle were growing replacement trees of western hackberry (left) and bitternut (pignut) hickory (right). Other plants included American bladdernut Virginia creeper, poison oak/ivy, and spiebush among shrubs and Canada wildrye, Davis' caric sedge, pokeberry or pokeweed common wood-nettle or Canada woodnettle, and the naturalized annual forb, beefstake plant (Perilla frutescens).

Going away (and at a rapid rate of rotting)- A more advanced stage of decomposition of the log of an ancient sycamore that died of natural causes. In the humid precipitation zone of the Ozark Plateau wooden remains of certain species do not remain long. Not as fast as Frosty the Snowman, but just look at how fast this sycamore is dearting the Earth. This is the other (the upper) end of the log shown in the preceding slide. Sycamore wood decomposes at a faster rate than the wood of some of its bottomland forest neighbors such as the oaks and hickories.

Surrounding green(live) plants included such shrubs as spicebush, American bladdernut, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy; grasses as slilky wildrye, rice ctgrass, and wood reed (Cinna arundinacea) along with seedlings and saplings of box elder, black waalnut, pignut hickory, white ash, and northern red oak. In the path of forest succession here was not regeneraion of sycamore. At this stage on this spot the huge trees (and their progeny) of sycamore have exited the stage.

Next scene of stage characters- Three years following the condition of decomposition shown in the two preceding slides, another successional stagte with a different caste of botanic characters entered this vegetational stage of a second-growth mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Here the rotting nurse log of a sycamore that "died of old age" (completed its life cycle and exited the stage) was supporting early growth of climax tree species, western hackberry and pignut hickory; the climax understorey shrub, spicebush; and forbs including the naive perennial, pokeberry, and the naturalizzeed annual weed, beefsteak plant (Perilla frutescens).

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August (advanced vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Rotting and nursing- Three years after the condition shown in the two slides just before (above) the immediately preceding slide, the log of a sycmore that died on natural causes had rotted to the state shown in these two slides. In the first of these slides there were seedlings of hackberry (left) and of pignut hickory and pokeberry or pokeweed (right). In the second of these slides a seedling of sycamore had germinated and was growing in the rotting organic matter of the sycamore log. On the back side of the rotting log were plants of the exotic alien weed, beefstake plant.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August (advanced estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Hatchet-happy fall- Immediate area around the crash of an immense old sycaamore that had been wantonly killed and left standing by timber theives a few years earlier. Upon finding that the old sycamore was hollow poachers quit off sawing and left it to die from their greenhorn action that resulted in effectively girlding the tree. When the over-mature, old-growth sycamore finally fell it toook a neighboring hackberry and large box elder down with it. This scraggy old ragged stump and an eight foot stump sprout was all tha remained of the girdled sycamore The surrounding understrey was largely Canada woodnettle but there was an interrupted layer of spicebush there also. Thesyamore stump sprout diied after about three years.

In this area of the western Ozark Plateau that has a humid precipitation zone stump sprouts or coppices of old sycamores die within three to five years based on this authors experience.

Floodplain, Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (advanced estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Babies fit to be forest kings- On two microsites of rich alluvium of the Modoc Creek floodplain seedlings of sycamore (all three photographs) and white ash (first or upper photograph) had germinated and were growing on patches of bare soil. Both sycamore and white ash are regarded as Intolerant species overall, but white ash seedlongs are regarded as shade-tolerant (Burns and Honkala, 1990).

Shade was irrelevant in these two instances because all seedlings were growing in full-sun microsites. In the first slide various other plant species including naturalized tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and the warm-season, annual common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) were growing beside sycamore and white ash seedlings. Neighboring plants of sycamore seedlings on the second microsite (second and third slides) were Virginia wildrye and roughleafor Drummond's dogwood (Cornus drummondii).

It is bare (= denuded) areas--large or tiny like these two microhabitats--on which these pioneer or first colonizer species establish (and persist into the climax forest). This is more the case for sycamore than white ash.

A new generation- A relatively young gravel/rock bar on side of an Ozark Plateau stream was serving as a nursrey for seedlings and young saplings (about six to eight feet tall) of sycamore. Sycamore is one of the most ibvious and common pioneer tree species. Along with cottonwoods and willows, sycamore sedlings appear "almost overnight" on "new ground", newly bare soil surfaces like stream cuts and depostis (eg. sand and gravel bars), road cuts, and abandoned bottomland fields,

On adjoining creek bottomland, a successionally advanced second-growth mixed hardwood forest (sycamore-northern red oak-chinaquapin aok-pignut hickory, American elm-hackberry-white ash-box eldercommunity shown in photographs throughout this chapter there were seedlings of of all of these tree seedlingsexept sycamore. There were more seedlings of hackberry the two oaks, pignut hickory and American elm than of white ash or box elderr (suggesting that the sexually reproducing tree species were climax dominants and associates), but absence of sycamore in late successional forest clearly demonstrated that sycamore was an Intolerant species that pioneered recent bare soil and related surfaces.

In the Forest Service silvics manual edited by Burns and Honkala (1990) it was noted that sycamore is Intermediate in tolerance (shade and competition) and that sycamore grows in pioneer to, less common, climax forests of various cover types. Essentially, sycamore has rapid growth rates and high longevity (grows fst when yound and lives a long time) such that this generally pioneer or first-colonizing species can persist into subclimax or even climax, especially bottomland forest types (at least under certain condtions).

The condition shown here with its pioneering stream vegetation is the typical phenomenon leading to presence of sycamore in bottomland forests. Given typical growing conditions (ie. no damn bulldozer operators arrogntly and vainly trying to channelize the stream or "make a deeper swinimg hole") there would be old, huge sycamores along this Ozark creek a century or more from time of photograph.

Other plant secies in this otherwise single-species stand were ditch stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides) and winged monkey flower (Mimulus alatus).It was too early in this streamside ser for cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis).

Immediate bank of Modoc Creek, Ottawa county, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect)..

36. An upland example of the same pattern- About 400 yards upslope from the mixed hardwood bottomland forest that developed along the Modoc Creek floodplain the same pattern of forest succession was unfolding. Seen here was a middle-aged sycamore flanked by several young hackberry trees of varying age/clsss classes ranging from young poles, small saplings, and even larger seedlings along with small American elms.

Ottawa County, Oklahom. Mid-December; late autumnal aspect.

37. Another lowland- On a frequently flooded (empherically wet) mixed hardwood botttomland forest a large adult bitternut or pignut hickory (Carya cordiformis) was, in the first of two slides, flanded by two hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) trees (a large sapling at left and to front and a small pole at right) and, also in first slide, a "half-growed" bitternut hickory. In background were trees ranging from northern red oak and a few black oak to adults of sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and black cherry (Prunus serotina). There was some regeneration of bitternut hickory (seedlings, saplings poles), but the preponderance of tree regeneration was western hackberry. The second slide showed a young hackberry sapling to right of the large (roughly one an a half foot DBH) bitternut hickory.

Dominant shrub was buckbrush or coralberry (Symphoriocarpos orbiculatus). Herbaceous species were lacking on this ungrazed relict of temporarily flooded mixed hardwood forest. (shade was too dense for an herbaceous layer).

Ottawa County, Oklahom. Mid-December; late autumnal aspect.

38. Easier to see the story- Absence of leaves on trees and shrubs in winter vegetation made it easier to "read ecology" of the western hackberry-American elm-sycamore-boxelder bottomland forest described above. The previous (old) channel of Modoc Creek was shown to good advantage revealing development of a floodplain hardwood forest. Sycamore like the large, old-growth individual in right foreground and eastern cottonwood, an example of which was the big tree in center background, had pioneered banks and bed of the previous and channel of Modoc Creek after this Ozark Plateau stream flooded and cut a new channel in the distant past. This geologic event left the now-abandoned channel to undergo primary plant succession beginning with colonization that included sycamore and eastern cottonwood. The individuals of these species along with some boxelder, which pioneered the raw site (along with typical annual forbs and grasses), persisted into the climax bottomland forest that at termination of plant succession was dominated by western hackberry, American and red (slippery) elm, bitternut hickory, and black cherry. Old individuals of chinquapin and Shummard oaks were also present (persisted) to the climax stage.

Chinquapin oak was represented in this photograph by the tree with firescar on left bank of old channel in midground while two boxelders were in background immediately in front the old-growth cottonwood. These trees and this immediate area were presented in the immediately succeeding slide. Large lianas of grayback and fox grape graced the old channel.

The dominant herbaceous species in the forest community presented in this photo-plot was silky wildrye. Also present in the herbaceous understorey as major forb species were Eurasian common chickweed (Stellaria media), the native chickweed (Cerastium brachhypodum), and false rue aneomone (Isopyrum biternatum).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. January (hibernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

39. The old channel in winter- Another photo-plot of the western hackberry-American elm-sycamore-boxelder bottomland forest described in preceding photographs. This forest community developed along the former channel of Modoc Creek after this stream cut a new channel. Featured here was the forest range vegetation shown in the midground of the preceding photograph. Largest tree in background with forked trunk was an old-growth eastern cottonwood that pioneered the former stream channel. The tree in left foreground with basal firescar was a chiquapin oak. The two trunks in front and slightly to left of cottonwood were boxelders. Large grape vines drapped down into the abandoned channel bed. Understorey was not prominent here, but was well-developed elsewhere in this forest. Details of understorey were presented below.

40. Speaking of winter, real winter- Relatively rare winter snow scene of the the old (a previous) channel of Modoc Creek and climax (perhaps late subclimax but approaching old-growth status) bottomland forest that developed along the eventually by-passed stream. This was the western hackberry-American elm-sycamore-boxelder-chinquapin oak-northern red oak floodplain forest introduced and described in detail above. This and the next three photograph-caption sets presented the same forest range community with snowfall of four or five inches. Pioneer trees of sycamore (eg. two large trees with conspicuous characteristic bark left-center midground) and of eastern cottonwood (barely visible large trees in background) were being replaced by hackberry (eg. two mid-size trees in front and slightly to left of the two big sycamore in both photographs, two small pole-sized trunks in center foreground of first photograph, and foremost trunk at far-right foreground of second photograph).

To confound the apparent pattern of plant succession and interpretation of successional state of this forest there were mature northern red oak (eg. third tree back on channel bank base in first slide and (same tree) second tree back on right of second slide) which is regarded as a climax species for this forest site. Black walnut (eg. the right-leaning trunk of mature tree in right foreground and large tree in right background of first slide) like sycamore is ranked as Intolerant with regard to shade and competition tolerance (Wenger, 1984).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January (hibernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

41. Ozark equivalent of Currier and Ives- The well-know printmaking firm of Currier and Ives reproduced numerous winter scenes that depicted Nineteenth Century Americana. These two photographs of the floodplain of Modoc Creek in the western Ozark (Springfield) Plateau with a climax (at least subclimax to approaching climax stage) bottomland hardwood forest under a blanket of snow was from this observers perspective a scene worthy of reproduction by the likes of Currier and Ives. This real-life hillbilly Christmas card featured a old-growth (and hollow) sycamore leaning over a shallow drainage into Modoc Creek which slowly ran at the base of bluffs so characteristic of the ancient Ozark Mountains. The second largest tree (readily seen in right midground with its buttress roots) was a fine specimen of an adult northern red oak.

The tree at right margin of the first slide was a boxelder. Sapling to immediate left of this boxelderas was an American elm and the pole-size tree to left of elm sapling (second tree to left of boxelder) was a white ash. This white ash was shown in foreground of second photograph. The smaller tree to left and front of leaning sycamore (in both slides) was another Amereican elm as was the tall tree with left-leaning upper bole in the first slide. The sapling with retained leaves to left of this was a sugar maple. Most trees behind the sycamore but to front of bluffs were hackberry, including the tall tree immediately behind the sycamore. There was no regeneration of sycamore within the frame of this photograph. Hackberry and American elm were clearly in successional ascendency on this sere on which they are the climax tree species. There was regeneration of boxelder.

Main shrub was spicebush in foreground and pawpaw in background (by creek channel).

42. Well-anchored- Base of trunk with buttress roots of the adult northern red oak introduced in the preceding two slides. Even with only one or two snows of this four to five inch depth per winter (and sometime several years in a row without any snow) this ole denizen of the creek bottom had seen its share of the white stuff. (This tree was somewhat over ninety years of age and as shown below this was to be its last winter. To be continued ....)

Saplings beside this patriarch were American elm. Northern red oak is generally regarded as Intermediate in tolerance (Wenger, 1984; Burns and Honkala, 1990).
This one in its "natural prime) had no visible progeny. Instead all the saplings surrounding this might trunk were hadkberry except for one American elm. It was obvious what the climax dominant and associate tree species of this Ozark bottom were.

Spicebush was the main shrub. Several leaders of spicebush were conspicuous in front of the northern red oak.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January.

43. The holding on and the coming on- An old boxelder with the fire-scarred shoot of its "sidekick" grape (either Vitis cinerea or V. vulpina) were featured as old-timers that were holding on as members of a climax hardwood forest developed on the bottomland of Modoc Creek in the western Ozark Plateau. The trunk along the margin of the first slide was chinquapin oak that was also an "oldster" in this relict tract of floodplain forest range.

Chinquapin oak is classified as Intolerant of shade with less tolerance with advancing age (Burns and Honkala, 1990). Nonetheless, chinkapin oak was interpreted by Burns and Honkala (1990) as a climax or subclimax species on mesic sites, especially forest habitats with limestone-derived soils (such as those of the Ozark Plateau). On these more mesic environments chinkapin is a subclimax to climax species that persist into the climax forest. That was clearly the case presented here.

Boxelder has an interesting and not exactly straightforward response to shade and competition in forests. Where boxelder is a major species along the larger rivers it "usually follows the pioneer species of cottonwood and willow in colonizing new ground in alluvial bottoms" or it is even "a pioneer species in the invasion of old fields" (Burns and Honkala, 1990), but it has been interpreted as Tolerant (Wenger, 1984; Burns and Honkala, 1990) and is a component of botomland forests, including both the 93 Sugarberry-American Elm-Green Ash and 94 Sycamore-Sweetgum-American Elm, SAF cover types 93 and 94, respectively ((Eyre, 1980, p. 65; Burns and Honkala, 1990).

Regardless of the successional status of boxelder it was pretty obvious what the dominant climax species was on the forest range site. Two small hackberry saplings in the first photograph and one of these in the second photograph showed the species that was coming on strong to be the climax dominant of this bottomland forest. There was, however, considerable regeneration of boxelder throughout this traact even though its reproduction was not represented in these two photographs.

In this particular tract of bottomland hardwoods beaver browse to a considerable degree on the bark of boxelder as well as bark of American elm and northern red oak of all ages. Beaver restricted feeding on sycamore to saplings and small poles in this forest. Beaver fed only sparingly on hackberry, but they did readily consume it (see below).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January.

44. Those who hold the high ground- Every military man from ground-pounding grunts to strategy planning generals knows that sooner or later victory will go to those who hold the high ground with sky and outer space being the ultimate high ground. This aerial "photoplot" showed the high ground of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest for/on which the final state of forest development was a hackberry-American elm-bitternut hickory climax wtth white ash, boxelder, and northern red oak as associates and sycamore, chinquapin oak, and black walnut as long-lived pioneer species that persisted into climax. The leaves were those on the lower limbs of American elm (left) and hackberry (right), the overall climax co-dominants (at least the main dominants other than on local scale).

American elm and hackberry were the two species that intercepted the greatest quantity of light thereby precluding most of that radiation from reaching the forest floor. Enough light reached the lower levels of this bottomland forest so that elm and hackberry seedlings, saplings, poles, etc. were able to survive to perpetuate these Very Tolerant species as dominants of the potential natural vegetation. Simply put, these two species controlled the light, created the shade, and yet could to reproduce their kinds as dominators of the climax forest. They captured and continued to hold the high ground. Successional victory was theirs.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

45. "Once and future kings"- T. H. White (1958) wrote The Once and Future King , a romantic (and swashbuckling) novel based on the life and reign of King Arthur, as a descriptive preachment for his view of a utopian social order or society. In an adaptation of White's oft-applied title, the author of Range Types used the medaphor of kingship and successional soverignty (complete with battles royal, knightly competition, ecological intrigue, and ultimate demise followed by hierarchial succession) to show the dynamic nature of range vegetation and plant community development in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest.

In the first of these two slides a seedling of boxelder and one of pignut hickory had emerged to the left and right, respectively, of a pole of American elm in the channel of a tributry of Modoc Crek in the western Springfield Plateau. Young plants of spicebush and bristly greenbriar (Smilax hispida) served as the court's shrub escorts for baby trees that might grow up to be king or queen of this floodplain forest. The second slide featured several seedlings of pignut hickory, a Tolerant climax dominant of this forest cover type, as well as sedlings of boxelder, a mesic habitat-requiring species that functions variously as colonizer up to germinating species in the climax forest. Boxelder is generally ranked as "tolerant of shade, although less so than the other soft maples" (Burns and Honkala, 1990), as asssessment with which Wenger (1984. p. 3) concurred. Harlow et al. (1979, p. 412) explained that the fast-growing boxelder was likely the best adapted maple for persistence in harsher habitats though it was generally a short-lived tree. There were also seedlings and somewhat older plants of spicebush, the dominant shrub throughout most of this forest range, present in this second "photoplot" along with well-established Davis caric sedge.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Mid-July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

46. Future leaders- Floor of a climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest with lowest woody layer of the future forest. Seedlings of subclimax to climax associate woody species left to right were: two northern red oak, approximately five boxelder (center to right), and some spicebush (lower right). A male ebony jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx maculata) was perched on (upper right corner) (More on these flashy critters below.)

47. Patriarchs along a tributary- Two adult trees of northern red oak at their maximum size prior to senescence stage and two young adult trees of pignut hickory (to immediate right of the two larger northern red oaks) growing on the upper bank of a tributary into Modoc Creek, a typical stream in the western Ozark Plateau. The smaller and younger tree in left corner of foreground was a small pole-sized individual of western hackberry, the major domimant of this climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Northern red oak is a classic subclimax species that matures and persist as slowly dying trees in the climax hackberry-American (some red or slippery) elm forest. Pignut hickory is also a climax tree in this bottomland forest site, but an associate not a dominant species.

Northern red oak, chinquapin oak, black walnut, sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and box elder are all pioneer (first seral stage) treee species, many adults of which persist into the climax vegetation giving rise to a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Seedling of some of these species were presented below as they pioneered an abandoned wheat field at the edge of the forest margin shown here.

Green herbaceous growth on forest floor was primarily the naturalized, exotic, annual, invader known as common chickweed ((Stellaria media). There were also some plants of dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) another naturalized, cool-season Eurasian weed; the native chickweed (Cerastium brachhypodum); both bigleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense) and Virginia waterleaf (H. virginianum); and false rue anemone (Isopyrum biternatium) that formed a lower herbaceous layer in this climax, though man-mmodified, forest. A second herbaceous layer was comprised of the native, festucoid grasses, Canada and sliky wildrye (Elymus canadensis and E. villosus, respectively), as well as the native grasslike plant species, Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii). These species were profiled later (below) in this chapter.

Bank of tributary into Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January; estival aspect, winter dormancy stage for all tree species. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

48. Present and future forest rulers- Two views of a forest stand on the bank of a tributary into a typical Ozark Plateau creek. A large northern red oak at its prime flanked by two large saplings or small poles of western hackberry and with a pignut hickory to its right rear and, behind the hiclory, a box elder in winter dormancy. Liana (woody vine) at right side of northern red oak trunk was fox grape (Vitis vulpina). The first view was taken under a bright, sunlite sky while the second view was taken a few moments later as a cumulous cloud blocked direct sun light. The two photographs that follow immediately these slides were taken the next day under a slightly darker winter sky.

The herbaceous species on the floor of this forest were listed in the immediately preceding caption. These views were of the same tributary into the same stream only about seventy to eighty yards farther upstream along the tributry. In the "photographic dendrographs" seen here, the low, caprifolius shrub known as buckbrush or coaral berry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) was present. It can barely be seen at base of northern red oak in the second of these two slides.

49. Another sky, another view of present and future rulers- Two--and somewhat "nested"--views of a in-its-natural-prime northern red oak flanked by a pole of western hackberry (left rear) and pignut hickory (right rear) and box elder (behind and to slight left of pignut hickory). These photographs were taken the day after the slides presented immediately above. A moderately overcast sky gave a different color cast than those taken under light cloudiness 24 hours before. Sky conditions have tremendous effects on photographs. Add in shade (which was not a factor in this winter forest) and light (quality of light to be specific) creats distinctly different "moods". Also of importance is the kind of film. These were all Fujichrome Provia 100F slides. These photographs would have appeared quite different--and suprerior--with slide-shooters' beloved Kodachorme. All such factors affect color even before scanning slides. Add in differences due to brands of scanners (eg. Hewlet-Packard versus Epson) and final color of photographs as presented in www. land is "anybody's guess".

Mini-editorial of two points: 1) boycot Kodak (the bastards took away our Kodachrome) and 2) be prepared for disappointment when using scanners (Epson scanners are wildly unpredictable, but their color is truer to the original than the bluish tints of Hewlet Packard scanners).

Species composition of this forest vegetation was given immediately above.

This northern red oak was at its peak of lumber quality and quantity. As regards lumber yield, the wood crop, this tree was ripe for harvest. In a matter of only a few years (probably less than a decade) lumber yield would decline as heartwood would start to rot with senescence and eventual death of this tree as it progressed along the forest path of its life cycle. Upper broken limbs allow entry of water into the wood of the trunk thereby permitting natural decay (rotting) of dead wood. The outer portions of some of these dead limbs were visible on the ground by the trunk of this tree.

Alternatively, if lumber production is not the goal of forest management this "arborous oldster" can be left to slowly die in place with its snag providing habitat for cavity nesting vertebrates and food for insects that in turn provide feed for other animals. Eventually the wood of the dead former forest king would become incorporated back into the soil that provided its sustance for a long life and into which it past into the endless Carbon Cycle, and "the place thereof shall know it no more" (Psalms 103:16). Such is the way of all wood. The forester or landowner might see the leaving of such beautiful red oak lumber to rot away in the forest as waste. The attractive wood of this red oak wood could make a church pew for the worship of the Almighty Forester (or at least a rough, durable pallat to facilitate human use of some article of commerce). Others would see the tree in all its life cycle as being an alter at which to worship the Forester King in his own sanctuary.

Barely visible in these photographs, but easier seen in a slide shortly below was a small entry hole into the trunk of this tree indicating that inner rotting of wood was about to begin or already had begun. All crops grow, ripen, reach ripe-stage, and start to decline as their tissues die and decay. Growers harvest when crops are ripe. Certainly proper stage of ripeness--including shipping and storage considerations--is easier to determine in short-lived organs like orchard and grain crops than in longer-lived ones like wood. Nonetheless, the concept of proper, prompt harvest for human use is valid for all crops, plant or animal. The Grim Reaper (or Grim Feller as the case may be) is sent by the King Forester based on His standards--which are not ours--of ripeness.

An earlier stage of the northern red oak life cycle was presented next...

50. God willing, a future forest king- Seedling of northern red oak on the floor of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. This seedling was growing in close enough proximity to the adult northern red oak presented immediately above that it could easily have been progeny of that adult tree. However, this seedling was beneath another adult (and very large) northern red oak; in fact, within fiver or six feet of its trunk. Furthermore, this little tree could have been from several other trees in this forest neighbor given all the agent of dispersal in this floodplain forest (gravity, wind, water, and acorn-eating/storing vertebrates including deer, squirrels, birds).

This seedling was approximately nine years old as estimated by counting node/internode units. This baby had obviously been suppressed by shade of trees towering above it. In fact, there was never adequate light for a good photograph of this plant other than when leaves were shed. Slides of this seedling along with adult trees referred to wherr presnted below.

Dead, shed leaves of northern red oak surrounded this seedling as did green herbage exotic and naturalized Eurasian weeds, mostly common chickweed and dead nettle.

Bank of tributary into Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January; estival aspect, winter dormancy.

51. Kid king's crown- Crown of the seedling of northern red oak introduced immediately above. This seedling was about nine years old as best could be determined by counting nodes/internodes. This little was growing in dense shade immediately beneath an adult northern red oak. Slides of this same seedling and surrounding (and overtopping) adult trees were presented below. Slides were presented in both places so as to shown different age/size classes of northern red oak in its life cycle.

This seedling had been suppressed throughout its short life. This tree was roughly one-eighth the age of the oldest northern red oak trees in this forest. This fact was determined by counting rings of the stump of the largest northern red oak in this forest that had been felled by timber theives the year before (see details below). Surrounding adult oaks (shown above and below) might have acheived roughly eight decdes of life, but this tiny bonsi-like seedling was no less than one-tenth the age of overshadowing adult trees. Even more revealing was a comparison of the size of this suppressed seedling to size of two-week-old seedlings of northern red oak in an adjoining wheat field that was less than ninety yards distant from this overshadowed, repressed fellow seedling. Would this growth-retarded baby recover and begin normal growth rate if adult trees were harvested, blown down, or stripped of limbs by ice storms?

Northern red oak is classified as being Intermediate in tolerance (Wenger, 1984; Burns and Honkala, 1990).

Note leaves of northern red oak. Gree herbage was mostly common chickweed and dead nettle.

Bank of tributary into Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January; estival aspect, winter dormancy.

52. Examples of their kind- Two trunks (first slide) and detail of trunk of a "prime"adult (second slide) of northern red oak on bank of a tributary into an Ozark Plateau stream. The second northern red oak in the first slide was the "prime" adult featured in the second slide (obviously shown from the opposite side). The low woody plants visible in the first photograph was buckbrush or coralberry. Herbaceous species visible as greenery on the forest floor were listed above (in the caption five slide-caption sets above prior to this caption).

These photographs were taken furing aftrnoon under a grey, overcast sky. The dead branches at base of the large oak in the second slide were outer parts of dead limbs on this same tree. Viewers should also note the hole into the trunk of this tree (visible as a black spot on right-center of rtrunk at level of soil surface). This entry into the trunk indicated that wood of this northern red oak was ready to start or had already started to decay. This tree was at its "prime" (or perhaps slightly past it) from a wood quality and quantity perspective.

Bank of tributary into Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January; estival aspect, winter dormancy.

53. Another example; another ripe one- Details of a trunk of an adult tree of northern red oak growing in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest along an Ozark Plateau stream in early winter. This specimen provided another example of adult northern red oak at age/stage of harvest for lumber. This pair of "nested phot-dendrograms" also served as another example of plant succession--and tree species replacement--in this bottomland forest range type. The two smaller trees of large-pole size in the first slide (larger "photo-dendrogram"), the two trunks to left rear of northern red oak, were western hackberry. One of these hackberry poles had lost its crown when a huge limb of a dead sycamore, whose crown was visible in distant background to immediate left of the oak, crash to earth taking much of the hackberry with it.

The dead sycamore was a member of a pioneer or early seral stage tree species, The sycamore had apparently "died of old age" (ie. died a natural death free of disease or accident upon completion of its life cycle). The mature adult of northern red oak was entering its later stages of life with commencement of senescence quite obvious. The younger and smaller trees were individuals of the most important of dominant climax species, and one of these had been seriously injured by the falling of a former giant of the dominant pioneer tree species. A third pole-sized tree of hackberry had been girdled by bark-feeding beaver and had been top-killed with only one new sprout or offshoot arising from its bark-stripped trunk. This is Frederic Clements' "dynamic vegetation" in action.

The second slide (the "nested photo-dendrogram") presented details of the oak trunk with only the intact hackberry to its left rear. Two partially healed injuries in the base of this oak trunk were visible as oblong, slitlike holes. This adult oak had achieved most of its life's growth and was at (or approaching) the senescent stage of its life. As was the case of another, large, adult of northern red oak presented above, this "oldster" was beginning to have decay in its trunk so that it was "ripe" (or "past-ripe") for harvest as a wood crop. Or else, its in-a-few-years-to-be-carcass of a trunk will become a snag joining that of the immense sycamore and providing habitat for another successional stage of animal species. Such is the "nature" (structure and composition) of an old-growth mixed hardwood forest. (Just do not expect an ivory billed woodpecker [Campephilus principalis] rapping of the standing woody remains.)

Floodplain of Modoc Creek Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December' winter dormancy.

Same example; another season- Two views of the adult northern red oak shown in the preceding two-slide set showing trunk base and surrounding understorey plants including two seedlings of northern red oak (parent and progeny) and one seedling of pignut or bitternut hickory as well as trumpet creeper, spicebush, American bladdernut, and Virginia knotweed.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; advanced estival aspect. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

54. Foliage and fruits in summer- Leaves and acorns on a northern red oak growing on a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Outermost part of a leader with two and a half internodes (first slide) and terminal ends of two leaders (second slide) presented overall features of leaders (branches) of this species. The distance from one node and subsequent internode to base of next most exterior node is the measurable growth of one year or, more precisely, one shoot-growing season. In case of the terminal node-internode unit, length estends from the terminal bud back inward to the first (outermost) node. The current growing season (ie. the most recent or the outermost) node-internode unit was much longer than the preceding (previous year's) unit of this branch (first photograph). This indicated that growing conditions had been much more favorable in the current year (or, perhaps, the preceding year during which the terminal bud of this node-intrnode unit had been produced).

The terminal (or distal) end of leaders is covered by a loose cluster of leaves and acorns (eg. terminal ends of the two leaders seen in second slide) in case of short shoots in woody plants. (Example in the first of next three slides immediately below.) By contrast, long shoots of tree and shrub species typically have only one large, terminal--a preformed--bud at their distal ends.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; near-maturity fruit stage of phenology.

55. Baby oaks in the offing- A short shoot of northern red oak bearing acorns (first slide) and details of northern red oak acorns (second and third slides) produced on a floodplain mixed hardwood forest in the western Ozark Plateau. Quercus rubra is in the red or, sometimes (and more informally), called black oak subgenus Erythrobalanus. Erythro- means red as in erythrocyte (red blood cell). Oaks in the red oak subgenus require two growing seasons for maturation (growth and development to maturity) of acorns (ie. fruit of red oaks is a biennial crop). Acorns of white oaks (subgenus, Leucobalanus, as in leucocyte or white blood cell) grow to maturity in a single growing season or one year (fruit of white oaks is an annual crop).

Numerous authors have shown this dichotomy; the current author refered his readers to the standard dendrology text (Harlow et al, 1979, ps. 296-298) given its universally accepted authority and ready availability. An even older classic that showed and distinguished between black and white oak species was that of Sargent (1933, ps. 238-241).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; near-maturity fruit stage of phenology.

56. Dead foliate, live fruit- Acorns of northern red oak placed on shed leaves of the same tree. There is tremendous variation in shape and, to lesser degree, size of leaf in nortrhern red oak. Positive identifiction of most oak species is almost impossible (it is impossible in many, in not most, cases) based on strictly on leaf features.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December; fruit-fall or maturity-shedding stage of fruit phenology.

57. "Great (mighty) oaks from tiny acorns grow"- This oft-quoted line was apparently from an old English proverb or lines from poetic verse. The words, regardless of source, were descriptive of these acorns of northern red oak that fell from the leaders presented in the immediately preceding slide-caption set. The fruit of Quercus species consist of both cup and nut, the latter forming inside the former. The cup or shell is an "involucre of imbircated scales" (Sargent 1933, p. 238). Excellent line drawings in this regard were those in Benson (1979, ps.246-247).

It was explained above that acorns of the red oak group (Erythrobalanus subgenus) require two years (two complete growing seasons) to reach maturity and fruit fall. Also above, Sargent (1933) and Harlow et al. (1979) were given as definitive references for disstinctions between red and white oak species. Such authorities noted that lining of shells or cups of the red or black oaks is softly tomentose whereas that of the white oak cups or shells is glabrous.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December; fruit-fall or maturity-shedding stage of phenology.

58. Start of a new forest from drill rows- Seedlings of hardwood species growing amid wheat straw on a field that had been used for winter wheat for 70 years (maybe much longer given that farming of this land could not be traced back farther than seven decades in living human memory). This field joined the tract of mixed hardwood bottomland forest that was the subject of this large section of chapters, Southern and Central Southern Forests. Limbs of trees in the bottomland forest tract overlapped the field. The acorn-bearing leaders of northern red oak presented earlier were, at heights of less than seven feet, directly above the stubble seen here . These acorns (or perhaps those of neighboring trees) had germinated and produced seedlings, some of which were shown here. There were also seedlings of chinquapin oak, black walnut, and box-elder in this stubble. Wheat on this field, which the author helped harvest, had been cut only two and a half weeks prior to time of these photographs.

The first of these two slides presented three seedlings of northern red oak while the second slide included a seedling of box-elder growing between two other seedlings of northern red oak. It was not know if these seedlings had emerged prior to time of cutting wheat and remained at heights below that of combine headers or if all seedling emergence and growth took place after the wheat had been cut (again, two weeks ago). These seedlings had made this much growth during an Extraordinary Drought (Palmer Drought Severity Scale).

Secondary forest succession on this sere had not begun with a pioneer stage of annual forbs and grasses and then slowly progressed to a tree stage. Rather, tree species that are characteristic of successional stages ranging from early seral (box elder) up to subclimax that persist into the climax forest (northern red oak) had pioneered or were components of the pioneer or colonizing stage of plant succession. If this land became an old field (ie. was not re-tilled and planted back to wheat) it would have been a young forest immediately with the major members being tree species of early to advanced seral stages.

Wheat field on outer terrace of Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; seedling stage of tree life cycle.

59. Fast growing baby- Side-view (first slide) and top-down view (second slide) olf a two-week-old deedling of nrothern red oak that germinated and emerged from stubble of winter wheat harvest of this crop. It was not know if the new tree had emerged prior to cutting wheat but had not reached a ehight above that of the combine's sickle-bar header. Either way, this seedling had made remarkably rapid growth, especially given that growth had taken place during Extraordinary Drought (Plamer Index).

Size of this seedling should be compared to that of a nine-year-old seedling of northern red oak on the floor of a near-climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest only ninety yards away from this and neighboring co-hort seedlings.

Wheat field on outer terrace of Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; seedling stage of tree life cycle.

60. Co-hort seedling of another oak species- Seedling of chinquapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) that germinated and emerged under stubble of winter wheat on a bottomland field that had been farmed for at least 70 years. Wheat had been cut on this fidle only two weeks prior to time of photograph. It was not known if some seedling growth had been occurred prior to wheat harvest.

The successional significance of seedlings of chinquapin oak, northernred oak, box-elder, and black walnut on this field is that tree species indicative of early to subclimax successional stages appeared immediately so as to be part of the colonizing (= pioneering) stage of forest succession. In fact seedlings of northern red oak, a species that persist into the climax forest appeared before r-selected, weedy, annuals like rank-growing composites or ephemeral grasses.

This initial invasion of the sere by such tree species would explain why there are so many (relatively speaking) large trees of seral species like box-elder and black walnut along with big specimens of subclimax trees like the oak species seen here.

Wheat field on outer terrace of Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; seedling stage of tree life cycle.

61. Future bearer of North America's most flavorable nut- A seedling of black walnut (Juglans nigra) as it appeared in its first few weeks of life (two to two and a half weeks following combining of a wheat crop). This seedling was growing with seedlings of northern red oak, chinquapin oak, and box elder on a field that had been planted to hard red winter wheat for over two-thirds of a century (farming can be traced back to 70 years ago).

Initial establishment of tree species like black walnut, box-elder, chinquapin oak, and northern red oak would do much to explain the presence of a proportionately high percentage of large trees of these species in the climax western hackberry-American elm bottomland forest. Even at the point of forest development when/where almost all tree regeneration is that of hackberry and American (sometimes red or slippery) elm, the largest trees are typically those of sycamore, northern red oak, black walnut, box-elder, chinquapin oak, white ash, and so on. Such non-climax, tree species, be they pioneering or typically later seral invaders, get there the "firstest and they stay there with the mostest" to paraphrase Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forest. In this case, the superior forces hold the low rather than the high ground, although they also hold the highest canopy above the lowland forest.

Wheat field on outer terrace of Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; seedling stage of tree life cycle.

62. Forest reclaiming its own-Young saplings of box elder at edge of a bottomland (floodplain) mixed hardwood forest and also the edge of a field planted to winter wheat (union of forest and field; native and domesticated) slowly encroaching out into the field. Farmers gradually "give ground" (back to the forest in this instance) as they instinctively avoid contacting larger branches of young saplings with their equipment (maybe they want to avoid scratching their tractors) thereby over the years they slowly and unavoidably reduce the size of their fields. Old furrows (from previous years) can be seen in these slides (especially the lower one).

Box elder is one of the more prolific pioneer tree species under these conditions. Sycamore does best on bare soil like flood-eroded stream banks.

63. Pictorally represented- Small (young) hackberry and a few young American elm saplings--coming in as climax dominant and associate species, respectively, in the foreground with an old-growth specimen of box elder (largest trunk with forked or big bi-limbs in center bckground), a pioneer or, at least, early seral tree species, on the floodplaind of an Ozark Plateau stream. This was a climax mixed hardwood--hackberry, American elm, northern red oak, sycamore, black walnut, white ash, box elder, chinquapin oak--forest with the first three of these being the terminal speacies of succession. The other tree species in this line-up were pioneer or early seral species that persist into the climx vegetation.

This pictoral presentation with the later seral (or climax) tree species (hackberry, American elm) in the foreground and the pioneer or early seral species (box elder) in the background symbolically portrayed the path of forest succession. As a rangeman or forester tracks in from a distance he teads the pathway of plant succession with the destination, the arrival the end--the terminus, the climax-- of his journey such is the pilgrimage of plant succession in this bottomland forest.

Herbaceous species in the understorey of this successional journey was a mixture of wildrye (mostly silky and Canada wildrye in this successional "photo-transect") along with Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii) and, in this hibernal society, early shoots of bigleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense), Virginia waterleaf (H. virginianum), and false rue anemone (Isopyrum biternatium). Another abundant (dominant in some winters) was common chickweed (Stellaria media), a naturalized Eurasian annual.

This was a second-growth forest, but it had been logged by imporper high-grading (selective felling of the best lumber trees but without provision made for regeneration of these tree species). Black walnut and northern red oak had been harvested roughly 70 to 80 plus years prior to time this forest vegetation was photographed. Old-growth specimens of sycamore, box elder, bitternut hickory, American elm, and eastern cottonwood that probably exceeded a century in age (rings could not be counted in hollow trees like sycamore) had been left in that cut-and-run melee. Such was the case of the box elder featured as a successional landmark in the current series of slides starting here. Saplings and young poles of hackberry and American elm were young plants of the climax forest stage. There were also a few bitternut or pignut hickory of these age/size classes. Bitternut hickory is also a climax tree species on this forest range site, and a local dominant.

64. New following the old- A side view of the successional "photo-transect" introduced in the immediately preceding slide/caption set. An old-growth box elder (largest trunk or tree at right with upper forked trunk or bi-limbed crown) that was introduced in the preceding slide was representative of pioneer or, at least, early seral tree species that persist into the climax forest community. The smaller trees were mostly hackberry and fewer numbers of American elm which are the dominant and associated tree species, respectively, of this mixed hardwood bottomland forest that developed on the floodplain of a small Ozark Plateau stream. Bitternut or pignut hickory was also represented by some of the smaller trees. There were a number of lianas (woody vines) of fox grape that extended from the soil to forest canopy. There were some trees of black walnut, white ash, and chinquapin oak to left midground and far left of background. The log in left foreground was hackberry that had been felled (uprooted) by an ice storm in November a few years before this photograph. Several other broken limbs shown in this slide were the result of that November ice storm.

Plant species in the herbaceous understorey made up a range mix of wildrye (mostly silky and Canada wildrye in this successional "photo-plot") along with Davis' caric sedge and, in this hibernal society, early shoots of the native forbs, bigleaf waterleaf, Virginia waterleaf, false rue anemone, and common chickweed. These herbaceous species comprised a hibernal society of the lowest layer of vascular plants in this forest range. Common chickweed is a naturalized Eurasian annual; the other major herbaceous species were native species.

65. Closer scenes of new replacements and an old standby- An old-growth specimen of box elder, a pioneer or early seral tree species, surrounded by hackberry and pignut or bitternut hickory with lesser cover and density of American elm, co-dominants and sssociate species, respectively, of the final climax forest. This was the same landmark box elder (bi-forked crown and swollen, butt-swell trunk) with some of the same hackberry, bitternut hickory, and American elm saplings as shown in the two immediately preceding slide/caption sets. Other important tree species in this forest included northern red oak, white ash, chinquapin oak, and black walnut.

Herbaceous plants in the forest vegetation presented in these two photographs included silky and Canada wildrye plus Davis' caric sedge and, in this hibernal society, early shoots of the native forbs, bigleaf waterleaf, Virginia waterleaf, and false rue anemone, and of the naturalized Eurasian annual weed, common chickweed. These herbaceous species comprised a hibernal society of the lowest layer of vascular plants in this forest range.

A number of shrubs were also important in this floodplain forest but only fox grape, buckbrush or coralberry, and spicebush were present in these two "photo-plots".

66. Younger (smaller) climax replacing older (larger) seral trees- Young adult trees of black walnut (two foremost trunks of pole-size) and white ash (distant background) along with saplings and small pole-size trees of hackberry on a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. These two views were at a greater distance from the landmark old-growth box elder with bi-forked crown that was featured in the three immediately preceding slide/caption sets. That forked box elder was in distant background of these two slides. All of these views of forest range were part of a bottomland mixed hardwood community that consisted of northern red oak, bitternut or pignut hickory, box elder, white ash, chinquapin oak, western hackberry and American elm. The latter two species were the climax dominant and associate trees, respectively, of this forest site. Pignut or bitternut hickory was also a dominant (frequently co-dominant with hackberry) in this forest.

In the bottomland forest vegetation in the two photographs presented here, trees of black walnut were approximately half of maximum size typically attained on this floodplain. They were roughly one and a half to two and a half foot diameter breast height. White ash trees (not in foreground of these slides) were in the same size range. The successional story of this view of forest succession was the replacement of black walnut and white ash by saplings to small poles of hackberry. For instance, in the second of these two slides the sapling at left margin and the small pole behind and to right of it (bearing a bi-forked lower crown) were hackberry.

Black walnut and white ash are generally regarded as having comparatively low tolerance. Burns and Honkala (1990) reported that black walnut was shade-intolerant so that it can persist in mixed forest communities only when it is dominant or co-dominant. White ash is frequently a pioneer species (relatively low tolerance), but it also also characteristic of mid-sere as well as earlier stages of forest succession (Burns and Honkala, 1990). Burns and Honkala (1990) reported that white ash was more tolerant of competition, especially shading, than the more shade-intolerant northern red oak. The author of this this caption found exactly the opposite in this bottomland forest that developed on the floodplain of an Ozark Plateau stream.

In their discussion of the silvics of hackberry, Burns and Honkala (1990) described this tree species as ranging from Intermediate to Tolerant on the tolerance-to-competition scale. Given that hackberry is a component of various forest types and forest communities in general, the successional status of hackberry was hard to nail down. Burns and Honkala (1990) listed subclimax as this species highest su;ccessional "achievement". Successional rank of hackberry is obviously forest site-specific. On the mixed hardwood floodplain forest treated here, western hackberry was clearly the climax dominant.

Although black walnut was being slowly replaced by western hackberry in this floodplain forest, black walnut and white ash would undoubtedly persist into the final composition and structure of the climax forest (see below).

The herbaceous understorey seen prominently in these two "photo-dendrographs" that were taken in early winter consisted mostly of growing shoots of silky and Canada wildrye plus Davis' caric sedge. There were also early growth shoots of the native forbs, bigleaf waterleaf, Virginia waterleaf, and false rue anemone. The naturalized Eurasian annual weed, common chickweed, was sometimes a local herbaceous dominant in this forest tract, but chickweed was not common in the herbaceous zone seen here.

67. Young gerations of the climax dominant- Small saplings (eg. one in left midground), larger saplings (eg. right, center foreground and right midground), and small poles (left, center midground) of western hackberry that was the climax dominant of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest in the western Ozark (Springfield) Plateau. There were some smaller downed branches from an ice storm of a few year ago. Woody vines of fox grape were climbing in the upper crowns of some of the larger trees as, for example, the small pole in left center midground (the shoot of fox grape was almost as large in diameter as the host tree).

The prominent herbaceous undertstorey in this early winter forest society was dominated by silky and Canada wildrye along with Davis' caric sedge and, at lesser density and cover, James' caric sedge (Carex jamesii) plus the native forbs, bigleaf waterleaf, Virginia waterleaf, and false rue anemone. There were a few plants of the two shrubs buckbrush and spicebush.

Note on harvest history of this forest: roughly 70-80 years prior to time of this photograph, this mixed hardwood bottomland forest had been high-graded or improperly logged. High-grading consist of taking the best logs (timber of the choice or highest priced species) without any provision for restoration (regeneration) of these most preferred tree species. Choice logs of black walnut and northern red oak had been extracted (= mined) off of this floodplain tract while leaving large trees of other species including sycamore. Seedlings of eastern cottonwood, box elder, chinaquapin oak, and white ash established on the logged forest. Later in the post-logging period, seedlings of American elm, hackberry, and pignut or bitternut hickory became established. These latter three species are climax tree species for this forest site. Black walnut, white ash, box elder, and chinaquapin oak were more advanced seral species in this bottomland forest. All of these tree species, except sycamore and eastern cottonwood, had some sexual reproduction (production of seedlings) even at the climax (or, perhaps, only subclimax) stage. Ratings of tolerance notwithstanding, there had been some sexual reproduction of these tree species beneath the closed forest cnopy.

68. What the above "photoplot" will look like in a few more decades (barring disturbance)- A portion of mixed hardwood bottomland forest that developed on the floodplain of a small stream in the Springfield Plateau. This was a part of the forest tract that was covered in this section. The forest vegetation was at climax, both species composition and structure. Some of the trees in this image were at maximum size and stage of maturity (near end of their life cycle) for their species on this forest site. A good example of this was the western hackberry (the largest tree visible) in foreground (at right margin) that was an old-growth specimen. Other tree species with large (old-growth or near old-growth) specimens in this sylvan scene included sycamore, white ash, box elder, chinquapin oak, and eastern cottonwood. Trees of black walnut and northern red oak as well as most trees of hackberry, the climax dominant, and American elm (and pignut or bitternut hickory), climax associates, were of younger ages because they did not become established until later in development of the forest sere.

Shrubs in this all-encompassing shot of a climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest included spicebush, American bladdernut, buckbrush, fox grape, and pawpaw (Asimina triloba).

The conspicuous, green, herbaceous layer in this early hibernal society included silky, Canada, and Virginia wildryes; Davis' caric sedge and, at lesser density and cover, James' caric sedge; bigleaf waterleaf; Virginia waterleaf; false rue anemone; and common chickweed.

Downed limbs and smaller branches were results of a late autumn (November) ice storm that took place about five years earlier. Most of this downed crown material was of western hackberry, again, the climax dominant tree of this forest range site. hackberry is very subject to severe damage by ice. Hackberry wood is relatively soft and lacks the tensile strength and flexibility of almost all tree species growing in this forest that had the climax composition and near-climax (probably subclimax) structure. By comparison, the soft wood of eastern cottonwood (a large tree of which grew within 25 yards of the vegetation seen here) is quite flexible and one of the least likely trees to be damaged by heavy ice loads.

All things considered, forest vegetation in this slide was representative of an old-growth mixed hardwood bottomland forest even though it was a second-growth forest that recovered to this extent through secondary forest succession about three-fourths of century following high-grade logging. Sadly, this forest tract was abused even worse thereafter in an illegal, haphazard, cut-and-run loggging operation (apparently to get money for a drug addiction habit). This aspect was covered below.

69. Reading the bottom of the woods- At the base of an old-growth northern red oak on a major tributary and alternate (branch) channel of an Ozark stream (Modoc Creek) there was a representative sample of the lowest woody and the herbaceous layers of the understorey of a climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Plant species in the first photograph included (left to right): box elder, trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), American or white elm. The second photograph was from a slightly different angle of the same northern red oak with plant species seen here including (left to right); spicebush, buckbrush (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus), northern red oak seedling, box elder seedling, trumpet creeper, and false Solomon's seal or false spikenard (Smilacina racemosa).

Attention was drawn to the small alternate spots of shade and sunlight. These spots and the pattern of sun and shade varied over a short period of time (that is, within a matter of minutes) when there were very light breezes. When there were strong, erratic winds shade and sunlight changed over a matter of seconds. This pattern of quickly fleeting spots of light is the sun fleck phenomenon with sun flecks being the relatively short-duration or flickering spots of sunlight that temporarily (often instaneously) get through the canopy to light the forest floor. Under these conditions patience is not a virtue. It is a photographic necessity. For plants it is a matter of life or death. The more tolerant species are those that can survive to reproduce in predominately shaded habitats, environments with: a) strongly filtered (= indirect) light and b) sun flecks.

70. Nursery now; canopy in the future, maybe- Closer-in "photoplot" of seedlings of boxelder (left) and northern red oak (right) growing beneath an old-growth northern red oak in a tributary and alternate (flood) branch Modoc Creek, a stream in the western Ozark Plateau. Burns and Honkala (1990) described boxelder as tolerant in general competitive ability (ie. mostly in regard to shade tolerance) while northern red oak was regarded as "intermediate in shade tolerance" being superior to many other red oaks (Erythrobalanus subgenus) and less tolerant than many white oaks (Leucobalanus subgenus) such as white oak.

Ultimate fate of these two babies was known by God and, perhaps, some humans who will be around to enjoy these as big trees--if they make it to that stage. There was considerable regeneration of boxelder (of all age/size classes) in this floodplain forest. As to the little red oak the next photograph provided a family portrait if that held any clues for the future forest.

Detailed views and discussion of the northern red oak seedling shown here were presented below.

71. Three generations- Interior "slice" of the climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest that was the feature in this portion of the chapter. The old-growth northern red oak was the same tree whose lower trunk portion was featured above. The little seedling (an apparent offspring of the neighboring adult tree) was one shown variously in the three immediately preceding slides. New to this photographic representation was a an intermediate-sized northern red oak, the large sapling or small pole-size tree in left-center midground. This pole-size oak was growing on the mid-slope bank of a tributary or flood branch of Modoc Creek. This tree was likely another sexual offspring of the old-growth oak (although action by flood waters, wind, and ever-busy squirrels could have dispersed the acorn from which the pole-size oak germinated from several other trees). Regardless of parentage, there were three generations of northern red oak in this poorly lighted "phototransect" up through the strata of this dense forest. (The seedling was featured in slides presented immediately below.)

This photograph showed the maximum amount of light at this location in this forest (when orientation to sun allowed the most rays of light to penetrate the canopy) during late spring. Tolerance to the passage of time (ie. patience) is requisite for any forest photographer (this one waited over two hours for this best possible shot which, at best, was medicore), but tolerance to shade and related competition is a first requirement for survival (long-enough life for reproduction) among plant species in a closed-canopy, climax forest.

The future of these three trees over time and with forest dynamics will depend on nearly countless combinations of variables. "Good Lord willing and the crick don't rise too high", this photographer will return with Nikon FM to leave a photographic record of developments in the vegetation of this forest range.

72. Tolerant enough to survive or baby in winter- A nine-year old seedling ("Believe it or not!") of northern red oak in understorey of bottomland mixed hardwood forest in western Ozark Plateau. This seedling was one of several seedlings of different tree species shown in two photographs in slide-caption sets immediately above the preceding photograph. This plant was progeny of one of the adult northern red oaks that were featured variously throughout rhis chapter (including the large northern red oak presented in the immeditely preceding slide-caption set). Age of this seedling was definitively estblished by counting the annual nodes back down the oldest little limb and trunk to base of this woody stem. This seedling was most likely the offspring of the largest northern red oak that was featured immediately above, but of course the acorn could have been from neighboring adults and been planted by squirrels, flood waters, wind, etc.

This little fellow definitely had been stunted by lack of light (among other factors necessary for its growth) with the miracle being that it had survived at all. This was a good example of the Intermediate tolerance rating of this species and the fact that seedling growth and development is often slow, especially in comparison to vegetation reproduction via coppicing (Wenger, 1984; Burns and Honkala, 1990). By way of size (growth) comparison this nine year old seedling was 1/10th the age of the 90+ year-old adult northern red oak described above and below. What kind of growth rte would this seedling be able to exhibit if released from shade and competition of its parent and other neighboring trees?

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Mid-January.

73. Heirs to the throne and royal court- Two "photoquadrants" (from two slightly different camera locations and distances) around the trunk of aln old-growth sycamore in the floodplain of a stream typical of the western Ozark Plateau presented the composition, divrsity, and spatial pattern of the understorey of a climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest. The "focus" (no pun; well, OK it was) of these photographs was to show regeneration of plant species tolerant enough to persist in the dense shade of this vegetation and, ultimately, be most likely to "ascend the successional throne" to maintain this climax (barring disturbances, perturbations, whatever).

A handsome plant of pokeberry or pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) in the center of both "photoplots" served as the central focus point. The low shrubs throughout and generally behind and to left of the pokeberry were spicebush and poison oak or poison ivy. In center immediate foreground (in front of Dashing Poke) were a number of seedlings of hackberry. At far lower-left corner in both photographs was boxelder. In lower right foreground was a nice seedling of northern red oak. In the first slide there was the edge of an adult hackberry trunk to the right of Nice Seedling. To the left of these folks in right midground was a larger seedling of pignut or bitternut hickory. There was also some Virginia wildrye and/or silky wildrye around the pignut hickory seedling.

All of the species represented by these plants were either climax or perhaps (it was not known), in case of boxelder or northern red oak, subclimax. That is except for Dashing Poke which represented a pioneer or early colonizing species. Flood torrents down this channel infrequently produced local disturbances which were of benefit to pokeberry.

74. Forest "children's church"- Churchmen and lumbermen know that the future of the congregation, the next crop, is the present cohort of young offspring. On the floor of a climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest were seedlings of climax and subclimax hardwood species as well as climax herbaceous species. Seedling of northern red oak (top, closest to rotting log), american or white elm (largest seedling, center), box elder (mixed in), hackberry (littlest seedlings, mostly center and lower right). Grass was mostly Virginia wildrye or silky wildrye (one or the other as both were present on this forest range). The grasslike plant was Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii) The monocotyledonous forb was false Solonom's seal; the dicotyledonous forb was smooth yellow violet (Viola pensylvania).

Students should appreciate the botanical diversity seen in this and the preceding slides. Represented in these photographs were the five general groups of range plants: 1) grasses, 2) grasslike plants, 3) forbs, 4) shrubs, and 5) trees. Even the forb category included both monocotyledons and dicotyledons.

Photographic note: The flare in extreme upper left corner by rtting log was result of bright shaft light in contrast to lower light intensity of the sunlite patch and with slow shutter speed (1/15th second).

Accompanying ecological note: Even the dim light caught in this "photoplot" was an extremely fleeting phenomenon. The photographer arrived on this woodsy scene about 1430 hours in early June when he estimated that light could filter through small openings in the dense canopy of this vegetation. He was ahead by two hours and even with on-location patience there was less than a quarter hour when light was at its brightest as shown here. Climax species must be those of the highest tolerance ratings (say, Very Tolerant) or, alternatively, cool-season herbaceous species which complete most of their annual cycle when leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs are absent.

Next generation of another bottomland tree- Seedling of a chinquapin or chinkapin oak (Quercus muhlenberrgii) of the flood of a floodplain mixed hardwood forest along a stream in the Springfield Plateau. Most of the herbage in this forest "photo-plot" was of silky wildrye (Elymus villosus), both mature sexual shoots with spikes (one visible to left of oak seedling) as well as some still-green shoots. Chinquapin oak persist into the climax forest vegetation. Chinquapin oak has traditonally be regarded as Intolerant to shade as an adult and of moderate tolerance when immature, but overall it is subclimax to climax on drier soils in its species range (Burns and Honkala, 1990) which was the case in the Ozark Hihglands bottomland forest seen here.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; mid-estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

75. Showy forest invertebrates- Sequence of shots of ebony jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx maculata) that lived in the climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest that developed along Modoc Creek in the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Highlands. The first slide was of both male (bright metallic-blue on thorax and abdomen, foremost insect) and female (behind the male) damselflies. The second slide was of the male and the third and fourth photographs were of the female. Leaves in the first three slides were boxelder while those in the fourth slide were buckbrush.

These individuals of this ancient species were extremely docile (fearless was more like). They permittted the photgrapher to take these slides at close distance with a macro lens, Nikon's Al Micro Nikkor f/2.8 manual focus (ie. at a 1;1 distance). Just so there remained no doubt, these photographs were not taken with a telephoto-lense. The author felt that this field note was worthy of note for two reasons: 1) it spoke of the fearlessness and nature of the insects and 2) it was another instance where God provided "quail and manner" from Heaven for the Range Types project.

In this author's view no one could find, witness, record, and share the grandeur of the Creator's creation without finding some spirituality in such long-tern endeavor. Transcendentalists like John Muir and the "plainer, every day forms" of Christians like Gifford Pinchot left no doubt as to their personal experiences and views in this matter. Aside from Nature Worship, to which this photographer pleads a certain guilt, there seemed to be no way that science alone could explain all the treasures and most unlikely good fortune bestowed on this author while pursuing this most delightful portion of a career in Range Management. The damselflies afforded a diversionary way to offer a simple "thanks".

And they are a range animal on an interesting range type.

Speaking of invertebrate range animal- Look, but don't touch. the adult caterpillar (characteristic stripe pattern of of the fifth instar larval stage) of the bull'seye or lo (sometimes written as 10) spot moth (Automeris io)in the leaf litter of a creek bottom forest dominated variously (locally) by a number of tree species including hackbeery, pignut or bitternut hickory, American elm, box elder, sycamore, white ash Adult io moths do not feed and die shortly after mating and ovipositing, but the showy and stinging caterpillars are polyphagous, meaning these larvae eat many species, including hackberry, elm, hickory cottonwood, and maple all well-represented species in this mixed hardwood floodplain forest.

The "showoff" mature larval stage shown here was probably preparing to pupate. It would definitely have inflicted a painful, irritating though not dangerous sting had your author been foolish enough to try to handle it. As it was the photographer just enjoyed another member of this bcreek bottom forest. And said photographing rangeman reminded hiss viewers that by no means are all range herbivores large vertebrates.

Along Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. The Fourth of July and wasn't this fat forest denizen showing patriotic colors?.

76. Browsing in the bottomland forest (nobody said that replacing the old order would be easy)- A pole-size (roughly less than seven inches basal diameter) young hackberry (western hackberry) growing in the bed of the former channel of Modoc Creek was felled by bark-feeding beaver. The hackberry had resprouted from the stump. On this bottomland forest range site hackberry was (is) the climax co-dominant (with American elm) or, sometimes, tri-dominant with bitternut hickory and/or box elder. In this mesic bottomland forest hackberry is the foremost ("first among equals") dominant and defining species of the climax (potential natural) forest vegetation.

Plant life in this "photo-plot" was a cornucopia of Ozark forest species including (besides sprouts of hackberry): poison ivy/oak, green-briar (catbriar or bullbriar), lopseed, pokeweed, silky wildrye, seedlings of chinquapin (chinkapin) oak, American bladdernut, and a caric sedge. Students can practice their botanizing skills by trying to identify these (probably other) species.

In the old stream channel of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect).

77. Being dominant does not mean "being out of the woods"- In the bottomland forest described here a large pole- or small log-sized American elm had been girdled by beaver. Beaver had not completely girdled this elm and instead had left a sizable part of its bark intact (on other side of the trunk as presented here). Thus, there was still some hope for survival of this tree. Plus, it was still small (=young) enough that it probably had the capacity to sprout or sucker (produce shoots from portions of the shoot near ground or from the rootcrown, the latter of which seemed more likely given that beaver gnawed this tree to ground-level).

There were other (smaller) neighboring saplings of both American elm and other species (most notably, hackberry) ready to grown--and possibly escape beaver-feeding--should this pathetically debarked individual cash in its chips (made by beaver of course).

Authors 38 inch hickory walking stick showed height of bark-feeding by beaver.

IMPORTANT POINT: This and the preceding photograph showed that beaver fed readily and extensively on hackberry (western hackberry) and American elm, the two major climax (= typically dominant) tree species of this Ozark Plateau bottomland forest. Interestingly, beaver like graziers such as cattle, buffalo, elk, and horses preferred the dominant climax plants. On this forest range, under browsing by beaver, hackberry and American elm were decreasers. By contrast, on upland, mesic-limestone forests (including one adjacent--contiguous with except for the channel of Modoc Creek--to this tract of bottomland forest) beaver did not select sugar maple and white ash which were the climax dominant and associate tree species, respectively. Instead, beaver browsed selectively on northern red oak in preference to sugar maple and white ash which stood trunk-by-trunk to northern red oak.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. February, 1990.

78. Now they've turned to woody vines- Browsing on fox grape (Vitis vulpina) by beaver in late autumn to early winter. The liana of a moderate-sized fox grape that was stripped of its bark and gnawed clear through into several sections by browsing beaver (first of these two slides) along the banks of Modoc Creek in the western hackberry-American elm-sycamore-boxelder-chinquapin oak-northern red oak floodplain forest introduced above. The second slide was a close-up view (from the opposite of liana) of the right-most section in the first photograph.

Greening shoots of silky wildrye, the dominant herbaceous species of this forest range, were visible in left midground of first photograph.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early January.

79. Can't keep a good grape down- First-season stump sprouts (basal shoots) from the fox grape gnawed off by beaver in the two preceding photographs. Size and extent of resprouting of fox grape (regrowth from basal buds) about three months into the first warm-growing season following complete topkilling by browsing beaver. Also in this "photoplot" were many seedling of western hackberry, the climax dominant species of this bottomland forest range. Virginia creeper and Davis caric sedge (Carex davisii) were also well-represented in this sample of vegetation on the forest floor.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Mid-July.

80. Winter vegetation- Range vegetation of a bottomland (floodplain) hardwood dominated by western hackberry, American (some slippery) elm, and bitternut hickory (with persistent sycamore and eastern cottonwood) in winter. Boxelder was also present as both large (presumedly pioneering individuals) and medium-size trees. The large woody vines (lianas) were summer and fox grape. Larger tree at extreme right margin and midground of first photograph and again in midground of second slide was western hackberry. Almost all trees in midground were hackberry. The tree with bent trunk (to right of the larger hackberry in midground) was boxelder. Most of the trees in background were sycamore (readily distinguished by upper gray bark) growing along bank of Modoc Creek, a typical Ozark Plateau stream. There were not oaks or cottonwood in this stand.

Most of the shrubs were spicebush (Lindera bezoin), but some pawpaw (Asimina triloba) grew in shrub understorey closer to Modoc Creek. Both the shrub layers and herbaceous layers were described immediately below.

81. Lower layers in winter- Shrub and herbaceous layers in a bottomland forest dominated by western hackberry, American (and some slippery) elm, and bitternut hickory (with persistent sycamore and eastern cottonwood) in winter. There were two pronounced shrub layers: 1) tall shrub dominated and made up mostly of pawpaw and 2) lower shrub dominated by spicebush with buckbrush or coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) as an associate of this layer. The conspicuous shrub in this slide was spicebush.

The herbaceous zone also consisted of a upper or taller layer and a lower of shorter layer. The herbaceous zone in winter (hibernal aspect) was presented and described in the next series of two photographs.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. January; hibernal aspect. Vegetational units cited in immediately preceding caption.

82. The lowest layers- Details of the herbaceous zone of a bottomland, hardwood forest described above. At stages of maturity of these herbaceous species and peak herbaceous standing crop there will be at least two layers: 1) low herbaceous layer made up of two Eurasian annual forbs common chickweed (Stellaria media) and dead nettle (Lamium purpureum), the native chickweed (Cerastium brachhypodum), both bigleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense) and Virginia waterleaf (H. virginianum), and false rue anemone (Isopyrum biternatium) and 2) tall herbaceous layer comprised of Virginia and silky wildrye and, later in summer, forbs the major of which were sweet, purple, purple-jointed, or green-stemed Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum) along with wood nettle (Laportea canadensis), slender nettle (Urtica gracilis= Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis ), and tall nettle (U. procera= U. dioica var. or ssp. procera).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. January; hibernal aspect.

83. Use of the understorey dominant- A plant of silk wildrye, the dominant understorey herbaceous species in the bottomland forest in which hackberry and elm were replacing sycamore and cottonwood as dominant trees. This particular plant had been grazed (defoliation was evident in this photograph) by white-tailed deer, the only ungulate, on this winter range. Silky wildrye matures and goes dormant by mid to late June by which time the only remaining herbaceous species on this forest range were forbs including purple-jointed or green-stemed Joe Pye weed, wood nettle, and slender nettle. The herbaceous portion or component (layers) of the understorey of this bottomland forest clearly comprised winter and spring. Winter usage was more critical and valuable given general scarceness of native, cool-season herbs.

Virginia wildrye was almost as abundant locally as silky wildrye, but this latter was slightly more plentiful.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. January.

84. Winter forb in the woods- The dominant perennial forb in understorey of bottomland hardwood forest was false rue anemone (Isopyrum biternatium) of the Ranunculaceae (buttercup family). The plants in the first two of these three slides were were growing and blooming in January and were photographed at the same time the author recorded tree damage from a severe ice storm (presented immediately below). The plant in the third of these slides was growing in this same location in March. I. biternatium is of necessity an opportunistic bloomer. This cool-season forb has a life cycle pattern (adaptative "strategy") that permits it to survive and reproduce in what would otherwise be a deeply, densely shaded understorey from spring through autumn leaf-fall.

Floodplain (terrace) of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Full-bloom phenological stage.

85. Browsed by ice- Defoliation is the generic term for removal of plant parts by such factors or agents as grazing/browsing animals (including insects), diseases, hail, frost and freezing temperatures, drought, wind (in a myriad of forms), and sheet ice and snow. Obviously hail, ice (such as from freezing rain and sleet), and snow are all forms of frozen precipitation. Whereas hail defoliates as it falls, ice and build-up of snow defoliates only after accumulations reach weights that plant parts can no longer support thereby resulting in breakage and separation (to one degree ir the other) of those parts from the remaining body of the plant. Ice, itself, can fall directly as frozen precipitation in form of sleet (rarely, grupel), freezing rain which is rain that freezes on contact, or rain that subsequently turns to ice at temperatures of freezing and subfreezing over periods of time.

Damage (defoliation) from ice accumulations is both direct and indirect. The latter occurs when branches, limbs, or crowns of taller trees that were brought down directly by excessive weight in turn (secondarily) break off, crush, or uproot lower, smaller trees and shrubs when the heavier and larger tree material from above crashes down on "underlings". Likewise, there is both primary and secondary damage to trees and shrubs suffering direct and/or indirect defoliation. Primary damage occurs from loss of plant parts whereas secondary damage takes place in numerous ways including disease entry via wounds, general weakening from severe or excessive ice-prunning, and heat from any fires (such as those ignited by lightening from thunderstorms) which will burn much hotter due to greater fuel loads from downed timber.

Damage done by severe and extreme ice storms can rival that from smaller tornados and hurricanes. Ice storms sometimes vastly exceed in area that of the largest twisters so that the scope of and total damage wrought by ice storms can exceed that of violent tornados. Such was the case of this storm (9 December, 2007) which cut a swath about three hundere miles long (west to east) and one hundred and fifty miles wide (south to north).

These two photographs showed severe damage done by that storm in a bottomland (floodplain of Modoc Creek) hardwood forest that was pioneered by sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and boxelder and that was approaching climax state in which dominant trees were western hackberry, American (white) and slippery (red) elm, and bitternut (pignut) hickory. Most severely damaged was boxelder. Large limbs that broke under weight of ice typically split and down their center (pith and heartwood) so as to "peel" or "run" down the limb and even trunk for long distances thereby magnifying extent of tree injury. An example of that pattern of breakage was obvious in the large limb of boxelder seen in center midground of first slide and centr foreground of the second of these slides. Shumard and black oaks and eastern cottonwood suffered considerably less limb breakage. Tolerance to ice damage in eastern cottonwood seemed strange given its soft wood, but the author consistently observed this outcome in numerous forest and shade trees in this immediate area.

In the example of severe ice damage presented in these two photographs a large limb (making up almost half the tree's crown) of a boxelder crashed and broke over (rather than completely off) a smaller American or white elm in the lower tree layer. The severed bole, a snag, of the American elm was shown only in the first photograph. Break-over of the American elm was presented at closer distance in the second of these photographs. The tree in right midground that was completely topped and the toppled portion in foreground was an American elm that had previously been burnt clear through by a surface fire (fire scar distinctly visible). Damage from this fire had not extended upward to height at which this "born-loser" elm broke off. The point on this American elm at which regrowth occurs will be interesting. From intercalary meristem at point of breakage or stump sprouting? (See later slides of plant and vegetation recovery below.)

The two saplings in foreground were western hackberry readily identified by the distinctive corkly ribbed bark.

On this bottomland hardwood forest western hackberry, American and slippery elm, and bitternut hickory were succeeding sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and boxelder as climax dominants. It seemed likely that damage from this ice storm would slow this successional development and perhaps create enough disturbance that pioneer and other seral tree species might have relatively more reproduction and reclaim more of their former crown cover. All-in-all another example of Frederick Clements "dynamic vegetation".

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Follow-up photographs (five and seven months following ice devestation) of forest vegetation on this exact spot were shown below).

86. Iced down- Large limbs brought down by ice accumulations (3/4th inch to slightly less than two inches) resulting from a mixture of rain, freezing rain, sleet, and light snow (in that order) from a late autumn (9 December, 2007) storm produced when warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico overrode the heavy, cold, dry air of a Norther (an Arctic polar front). When the wet Gulf air cooled enough at higher altitudes it released the water which it could not hold at colder temperatures. Then as this precipitation fell through the heavy, cold Arctic air it went through varying frozen states that fell and accumulated on objects such as trees (power lines, roofs of houses, etc.) the added weight of which broke and brought down numerous of these things.

In the scene shown here damage to (defoliation of) sycamore, like the large limb at left, and boxelder, represented by big limb at right, was featured. Boxelder sustained disproportionately severe damage due to its soft, brittle wood. The standing trunk in right foreground was chinquapin oak, a species that withstood icing better than western hackberry, elms, and, of course, boxelder.

The understorey of this bottonland forest was presented and described in detail in several preceding photographs-captions.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

87. By the sheer weght of it- Two western hackberry in a bottomland forest uprooted by weight of ice accumulation from a late autumn ice storm (9 December, 2007). A combination of heavy ice accompanied by high winds and saturated (or nearly saturated) soil, aided and abetted by falling limbs from neighboring trees resulted in partial uprooting and toppling of these two pole-size (DBH approximately 14 inches) hackberries.

In this creek floodplain forest in the western Ozark H:ighlands hackberry, American and slippery elms, and bitternut hickory were replacing sycamore, eastern cottonwood, and Shumard oak that had pioneered the old channel of Modoc Creek and adjacent land when this mid-size creek changed course sommetime over a hundered years ago. Other hackberry had lost major limbs and even their entire crowns (see next slide). Sycamore, Shumard and chinquapin oaks, and black cherry were also similarly impacted while bitternut hickory (and sugar maple in a neighboring creek bank stand) were least affected. Boxelder with its extremely brittle wood suffered the most ice damage (see photographs and discussion of boxelder breakage below).

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Follow-up photographs (five and seven months following ice devestation) of forest vegetation on this exact spot were shown below).

88. Crowned- The upper trunk of a western hackberry was broken by ice accumulation from a late autumn (9 Decembr, 2007) storm of wind and mixed precipitation (that promptly froze and built-up on trees). In crashing, the crown of the hackberry broke and bent down a sapling of American elm (to left of hackberry) The most extensive damage was to boxelder, but sycamore, chinquapin oak, black cherry, and Shumard oak were all affected by the storm and suffered major loss of limbs and branches. Centermost tree in foreground was a hackberry that experienced only minor damage.

89. No, not a tornado; ice- Ice can be as effective as a tornado, hurricane, or straightline wind blowdown through several manisfestations. This includes uprooting, complete toppling by breakage near ground level, removal of entire crown by breaking below lowermost limb, or extreme breakage of individual branches and limbs. An example of the latter was provided by this photograph.

This stand was a dry bottomland forest of western hackberry, American and slippery elm, and boxelder with black walnut, chinquapin oak, and honey locust as minor but consistent tree species. The largest bole in this stand was hackberry (right foreground). Trees in left foreground were (left to right): hackberry, American elm (tree with upper forked trunk), and boxelder. The large, split limb in front of largest hackberry was from a boxelder immediately to right (out of photograph) of the hackbery.

Damage done by same ice storm as in preceding slides (9 Decembr, 2007).

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

90. Details of defoliation by ice- Limbs and even half-crowns downed by heavy accumulations of ice (3/4th inch to slightly less than two inches) from the most severe ice storm (9 December, 2007) in over a century (determined from records and reported by Empire District Electric Company, Jopoin,Missouri). Most of the debris on the forest floor shown here was boxelder, but American and red (slippery) elm, western hackberry, and honey locust contributed to the tangle of downed timber.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

91. Browsed by ice (recovery efforts; phase 1) Early stage of recovery of vegetation in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest becoming dominated by western hackberry and American and red elm that had been severely damaged by a late autumn (9 December, 2007) ice storm. It was only six to eight weeks into the warm-growing season (that length since the last killing frost) so that plant growth and sesonal development was still at early stages of phenology and recovery.

Both the larger completely topped snag and the "broke down and pert-n'ar broke off" sapling were American elm. It was wondered above (first slides of ice storm devestation) if the nearly benearly broken off American elm would resprout at point of breakage or at base of trunk (stump sprouting). The answer was provided here: at point of break-over and also along the incompletely severed bole distant (upward) from point of breakage. In other words, all parts of this trunk were still alive at this point in time (both season and plant age).

Spicebush was th e shrub species that was most abundant and benefitted greatest (at least initially) from the forest gaps created by ice defoliation. Pawpaw and buckbrush were also favored by ice-created forest openings. Grayback and fox grape had sprouted profusely following some ice damage and creation of the forest gap. Major herbaceous species were silky wildrye, pokeweed, and purple Jope Pye weed.

The large, split limb in foreground of these three photogrphs (best seen in right center foreground of third photograph) was box elder. It had been a major part of the crown of the largest tree in right margin of the first two photographs.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May (vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

92. Browsed by ice (recovery efforts; phase 2)- Early versus mid-stage of recovery of vegetation in a forest gap created by severe ice storm (9 December, 2007) in a bottomland mixed hardwood forest that was developing toward a western hackberry-American and red elm-bitternut or pignut hickory climax. These first of these photographs was taken at same time as the three slides in the preceding set (six to eight weeks after last killing frost) whereas the second of these slides was taken sixteen to eighteen weeks into the warm-growing season (after last killing spring frost). Such paired temporal "photo-plots" showed extent and relative rate of revegetation in this forest.

Hackberry (at several age/size classes) was the major tree species, hence the one to exploit to best early advantage increased quantities of light. American elm was the second most common tree, including the sheared off snag (far right) and the sapling with the broken-over-but-not-off trunk. The sapling had sprouted profusely right below the stress injury and also above and beyond this break (higher up on the shattered stem). The snag of the larger (pole-size) American elm had sprouted far below shear site close to base of the trunk.

This larger American elm was "broke clean- off" by a falling limb of box elder. Part of the trunk of that box elder barely was shown in the first of these two photographs (upper right corner) but it was shown to good advantage the entire height of the second slide (right of American elm snag). Wood of box elder is extremely brittle and readily splits and "runs" for considerable length along cracks in its wood.

Spicebush and fox grape were the major shrubs (those with most cover) in this forest gap. Silky wildrye (some Virginia wildrye), pokeberry, and purple Joe Pye weed were the major herbaceous species (in that approxomate order). Other forbs important elsewhere in this forest (eg. stinging nettle, slender nettle, and southern blue flag) were not present in this forest gap.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. may (vernal aspect) and July (estival aspect) for first and second slides, respectively. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

93. By the sheer weght of it (recovery efforts)- Early stage of recovery of vegetation in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest where two hackberry had been uprooted five months earlier (9 December, 2007) by a severe ice storm. Stage of plant development on this forest range as shown here was only six to eight weeks into the warm-growing season (following the last killing frost in late March or early April). Most of the remaining trees were hackberry (mature down to two-year-old seedlings) and American elm (two forememost saplings of two size classes). Major shrubs were spicebush and buckbrush with pawpaw forming an irregular mid-height shrub layer. The main herbaceous species was silky wildrye. The most common forb was pokeweed followed by purple Joe Pye weed.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May (vernal aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

94. Letting the light in- Old-growth white ash, surrounded on limbs and ground, by general debris from box elder, American elm, and sycamore by an ice storm during the preceding late autumn (9 December, 2007). The ash was unscathed and being one of the tallest trees with a large crown it did not get as buch benefit of additional light and growing space as did other plants, especially those in lower shrub and herbacaeous layers. Some of the shrubs to benefit first from this new spot of denudation 9a forest gap) were grayback and fox grape. In addition, silky wildrye (dominant herbaceous plant), Virginia wildrye (general associate herbaceous species) along with perennial forbs including pokeberry or pokeweed, purple Joe Pye weed, tall nettle, and wood nettle plus pioneer plants like giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) also benefited from this forest gap or patch.

It would be revealed in time shich tree and shrub species regenerated in this disturbance patch with most success.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Enter overbrowsing: as if natural disturbances/defoliation like icestorms, windthrow, flooding, etc. were not enough, the ffollowing slides showed severe overbrowsing by beef cattle (cow-calf pairs) of this bottomland forest. This hardwood creek bottom forest had been browsed by white-tailed deer and beaver as well as small mammals like cottontail rabbits, but livestock (other than occasional feral hogs) had not had access to this land for at least 80 or 90 years. Laand changed hands and the new landowner allowed cattle into the forest. Specifically, the new ownertried to use cattle as a biological control of the col-season annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) that he thought was a competitor of a new commercial variety of warm-season bermudagrass (Cynodon dactyledon) which he had springged in an adjacent field. Cows and calves did consume some anual ryegrass, but they preferred the browse of native trees and shrubs in this forest. The result was catastrophic overbrowsing of woody plant species usually assumed to not be palatable to cattle. This included such tree species as pignut hickory (Carya cordiformis), hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), American elm (Ulmus americana), northerrn red oak (Quercus rubra= Q. borealis), and chinaquapin oak (Q. muhlenbergia) as well as shrubs like American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia,).

Except for American elm (in this area white-tailed deer relish Ulmus seedlings and saplings), there had been essentially zero feeding on all these woody plants by white-tailed deer which used mast and herbaceous plants as feed and the forest primarily as cover. Beaver fed on bark of some trees often to the extent of killing them by girdling (shown above and under discssion of sugar maple forests). Given that there had been no browsing on leaves, twigs, buds, etc. of certain trees or shrubs by deer during decades of exposure to deer and exclusion of livestock, any browsing defolation of these plant parts had to be by the cow-calf pairs. This was a ready made controlled experiment.

Annihilated- Two examples of severe overbrowsing of American bladdernut shown near end of second consecutive year of feeding by cattle (cow-calf pairs) on an Ozark Highlands floodplain (creek bottom) hardwood forest. Neighboring plants of the abundant horseweed (Conyza canadensis), dense local stand of beefsteak (Perilla frutescens), and scattered plants of adventive orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata) were untouched. .

Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005). .

Comparison of palatability- In a creek bottom mixed second-growth hardwood forest in the Oklahom Ozarks a local adventive (or, perhaps, broadcast-seeded) stand of orchardgrass or, chiefly British, cocksfoot was growng about 12-15 feet away from overbrowsed (by cattle) shoots of American bladdernut. The orchardgrass, which was now over a yard tall and in full-flower had not been touched by co-calf pairs that had in two spring grazing seasons consumed multiple years of shoot growth on the American bladdernut.

This was a textbook example of selective feeding and the phenomenon of palatability/preference. At time of this slide cattle had had access to this forest for ony two spring growing seasons. White-tailed deer had been in the forest "forever" and had never so much as touched the bladdernut. (This stretcch of forest was a favorite haunt of you author for 60 years.) Orchardgrass is a cool-season perennial introduced from Eurasia and the British Isles. It is often grown agronomally in this area for (supposedly) permanent pasture. I Here in the southwestern Springfield Plateau, orchardgrass typically does not persist except under light grazing and on fairly deep soils. Orchardgrass has semi-naturalized on these better sites. This is a clsssic case where agronomic (introduced) forage grasses can under fvorable conditions produce a lot of herbage available for forage but that is not highly palatable. In this particular instance, a native shrub known simply as "brush" to clueless landowners was far more palatable to cattle than was the introduced pasture grass. And, again, the native shrub was unused as browse by native white-tailed deer, neither was the orchardggrass.

Local stand oa American bladder nut overbrowsed for the second consecutive on a creek bottom second-growth mixed hardwood forest.in the Springfield Platea.. A seedling of chinaquapin oak with numerous plants of the annual composite giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) and numerous plants of Virginia knotweed were not touched. Textbook example of selective feeding (and of overbrowsing), Cattle had been removed about two months prior to time of photographs.

More overbrowsing- Two more views of overbrowsing of American bladdernut for the second consecutive year by cow-calf pairs in a floodplain forest along a creek in the Springfield Plateau. These plants had not been browsed in 60 to almost 90 years (exact time period was not known) during which cattle had been excluded but white-tailed deer were present. Plants in the second slide had been lightly utilized compared to those in the first slide, but even the lighter utilization used almost all of the current year's production. Cattle had been removed about two monthss prior to these photographs..

Overdraft- Example of overbrowing by cow-calf pairs of American bladdernut after two consecutive spring grazing seasons. Cattle had utilized from two to four seasons (based on counting and comparison of nodes and internodes) and had browsed to heights of three and a half to almost four feet. In addition they had rubbed on shoots (scratched their briskets) reslting in breakage of shoots.

White-tailed deer had been in this area "always" (the author had visited this tract of forest for 60+ years at time of photographs) and no evidence of feeding on American bladdernut by deer was ever found. Obviously, this excessive degree of use was strictly by beef cattle.

Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August.

Fed on tree and annual composite- Small sapling of American elm and giant ragweed fed on by white-tailed deer in a second-growth mixed hardwood forest that developed on a stream floodplain in the Springfield Plateau. This local spot was inaccessable to beef cattle that had otherwise grazed/browsed in this forest for two consecutive spring grazing seasons. In this forest, American elm was the only tree species to receive any browsing use by deer except rarely on hackberry (and this was likely incidental to eating hackbery fruit). This photographer had tramped these "woods" for over 60 years, during which period cattle had been excluded except for the last two spring seasons, and never found evidence of deer feeding (utilization) on sycamore, northern red oak, pignut hickory, box elder, black walnut, or white ash.

On this particular second-growth forest, white-tailed deerr fed on various forbs and, in winter, on shoots of caric-sedges.

Favorite forb- Shoot of wood nettle or Canada nettle (Larportea canadensis) grazed by white-tailed deer in a bottomland second-growth mixed hardwood forest in the western Ozark Plateau. Wood nettle was was the plant most commonly or frequently eaten by deer in this forest range. This phenomenon was observed by your author for decades.

Yes this thing is "bad news" for biped critters. Wear long pants and handle carefully. Pretty plant as well as good dee forage.

Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August.

Chinaquapined by cattle- A small sapling of chinaquapin oak heavily browsed by beef cattle in a second-growth mixed hardwood forest that developed on the floodplain of a stream in the western Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Highlands. This sapling had been browse during one or both spring grazing season suring which theis forest had been accessable to cow-calf pairs. In tramping through this forest over a span of 60 years during which cattle did have access to this area this photographer never encounted any feeding on chinquapin oak (or any other oak species) by resident white-tailed deer. The above degree of utilization by cattle took place over two spring grazing periods.

Grass leaves at left denter margin were of silky wildrye (Elymus villosus) which in this local habitat had not received any grazing from anything). In other words, beef cattle in this forest range preferred the shoots of chinaquapin oak over forage of a cool-season native grass.

Fence line difference- Browsing of three-year-old, eight-foot stump sprouts of a pignut hickory (Carya cordiformis) by cattle after two consecutive spring grazzing periods on a second-growth floodplain forest in the western Ozark Highlands of northeast Oklahoma. The fence had been built three years earlier and the young pole (about seven inches diameter at stump) had been sawed off. The new fence straddled the stump. After one growing season of nonbrowsing, cow-calf pairs were ranging in the forest for roughly the irst half of the spring season during the next two consecutive years. These two photographs were taken in late summer of the second year of cattle browsing. Stump srpouts on the back side of the fence were accessable only to white-tailed deer while sprouts in front of the (front side) were accessable to both deer and beef cattle. Spouts of the pignut hickory stump accessable to deer had not been fed on while sprouts of the stump on the both cattle and deer side ahad been eaten down to the height of the third wire of this five-wire fence: uneaten eight-foot three-year-old sprouts where deer only and two and a half to three foot high threee-year-old sprouts remaining on the cattle and deer side. In other words, five feet of stump sprouts had been consumed and/or growth retarded by beef cattle.

Bank of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Second-growth mixed hardwood bottomland forest turned into cow stomp lot- the following slides showed damage to forest reproduction by overbrowsing beef cattle (cow-calf pairs) after only two spring grazing seasons. Rangemen often comment (or lament) that foresters often overstate their claims that livestock are "enemies" of hardwood forests in the Eastern Deciduous Region, specifically that presence of livestock retard forest regeneration. The following examples collected by a rangeman who grew up roaming these woods more than confirms the truth of foresters' assertions--when grazing management is improper due to overstocking forest range by running too many animals and/or for too long. It is underscored that this author knew from observation over a six decade period that white-tailed deer living in these woods did not feed (or fed very infreqently) on twigs, buds, etc. of sycamore, northern red oak, chinaquapin oak, white ash, box elder, black walnut, or pignut hickory. Deer did feed on browse of American elm as well as mast such as acorns. Therefore, .photographs of effects due to browsing (including those from trampling and rubbing) on these tree species was by default incontrovertible evidence of acttion of cattle.

Rubbed the wrong way- Damage to trees and shrubs by gazing/browsing herbivores is not limited to defoliation by eating. Herbivores, especially larger ones, can also inflict damage by trampling or, as shown in these two slides, and even by rubbing, scraping, or in scratching actions. These two photographs showed damage to bark of western hackberry saplings caused by rubbing beef cows and calves. "If ya got an itch, scratch it" seemed to be the order of the day in these two secnes.

In the first or top slide damage was primarily that of rubbed off bark and broken lower limbs with a few saplings of one or twoi nches in diamter broken "clean off" about two and a half feet above grond. In the second or bottom slide damage was breakage of a number of saolings, again at heights of about one and a half to almost three feet above ground. All of thee saplings had some degree of regrowth by lower tr;unk (mostly at base or stump level). These had been converted from single shoot tree form to "bush" growth form. Undoubedly most of these hackberry saplings (even of this shade-tolerant species) would have died due to competition, but they are not going to get that chance. This activity obvviously impeded regeneration of the climax dominant tree of this forest type.

Animal activity responsible for this damage was cattle (both cows and calves) scratching their neck and briskets on the trees.

Deer also indlict damage by rubbing their antlers on trees and shrubs, but these mock battles or "sign posts" are usually limited to a relatively smal number of plants.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August. (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Rubbing post in a cow stomp lot- Bare ground at base of a group of three adult white ash trees in a second-growth mesic bottomland mixed hardwood forest resulting from excessive utilization (aboth feeding and trampling) by a herd of cows and calves for the first half of the spring season two years in a row. This tract of forest had not been subject to livestock presence for a period of at least 60 years (time frame of obervation by this author) and probably up to 80 or even 90 years due to lack of a fence. White-tail deer had been in this forest "forever", but your author only observed evidence of deer browding on American elm saplings and herbaceous species. Deer made use of acorns, but again the only woody species (including shrubs like American bladdernut, spicebush, and pawpaw) browsed by deer were young elms. Beaver fed on trunk bark of American elm, northern red oak, chinaquapin oak, box elder, white ash, and hackberry sometimes killing adult trees, especially northern red oak

In this photograph the O horizon (leaf litter) had been lost due to cattle activity, including trampling from cattle rubbing on the white ash trunk in the foreground. A seedling of chinaquapin oak had been either eaten or broken off in rubbing actvity but a larger seedling of white ash (leaning pencil-sizeed stem in center foreground in front of the rubbed adult white ash..

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late Ju;ly (seedling regrrowth stage). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Looks good from here? Look closer- Ground at base of adult pignut hickory eaten and trampled bare by cow-calf pairs, but two seedlings of pignut hickory and one seedling of chinaquapin oak that had been eaten "clean off" had regrown in two and a half months following complete defoliation. A plant of Virginia wildrye had also been overused, but being a cool-season perennial it had made but little regrowth. The bare soil surface (loss of O horizon; litter cover) was due to "stompage" (hoof action) and consumption of live plant material.This was after the second consecutive year of this grazing practice which consisted of ncontrolled cattle presence for the first half of spring.

Second-growth mixed hardwood (white ash, sycamore, hackberry, northern red oak, chinaquapin oak, pignut hickory, box elder were all but sycamore represented by several age classes from seedling to adult; sycamore consisted only of adult to senescing adults with no sycamore seedlings).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early August (seedling regrrowth stage). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Stomp lot in the forest- Two views of a local representative area of the understorey of a second-growth mesic creek bottom mixed hardwood forest that had been utilized by a herd of cows and calves for two consecutive years during roughly the first half of spring. This forest had no use by livestock for at least 60 years (span of time over which this photographer had observed this forest) and probably over 80 years: no fence. Feral hogs had not foraged in this forest. This tract of forest was range for free-ranging white-tailed deer and beaver. Deer fed on acorns and herbaceous plants, but the only woody species (both shrubs and trees) ever observed as having had deer use was Ameriican elm (branches of young saplings).

Results of cattle use were a combination of browse feeding, trampling, and rubbing, with the latter two being more or less joint action.

In these two "photoplots" of the florest floor surface the entire O horizon (vegetative litter) of the soil was gone except for larger pieces of branches and limbs fallen from trees. Some of the original (pre-cattle action) littter could have been pushed into the soil surface by cattle hooves. In the first "photoplot" there were three tree seedlings that had been eater off (mouth snapped off not hoof breakage) and that had regrown in two and a half months after cattle removal. These seedlings werre (left to right): one chinaquapin oak and two pignut hickories.).

The second "photoplot" .presented two tree seedlings that were regrowing following feeding (being bitten off) by cattle. In left foreground (left of stick) was a pignut hickory and in right foreground (right of stick) was chinaquapin oak. The original shoot of the chinaquapin oak seedling had been only half eater, but regrowth was below the remaining live parts which subsesequently died as new growth replaced.it.There was slso some regrowth of Virginia wildrye that had been grazed to ground level except for one sexual shoot..

Stomp lot continued- Two "photoplots" presented at greater detail, closer-in distance the two regrowing tree seedlings introduced in the immediately preceding slide. This regrowth followed complete defoliation by browssing cattle in a second-growth bottomland mixed hardwood forest in the Springfield Plateau, This forest, which had received no livestock use for the preceding 60-80 years, had been browsed by a herd of cows and calves during the first half of the spring season for the last two consecutive years. Defoliation of these two seedlings was by feeding sonsumption (part of the cattle's diet and not hoof breakage. The cattle selected them as feed.

Thee first "photoplot" was of the chinaquapin oak shown above. Cattle had bitten off only part of the upper shoot, but regrowth was below the reamaining tiny limbs that then died as regrowth continued. Some regrowth of Virginia wildrye growing immediately beside the oak seedling had occurred. (Note one sexual shoot of the wildrye remained with its spike.) The secnd "photoplot" was of the pignut hickoery in which regrowth had occurred from the point of the cattle bite which was one to one and ahalf inch above the soil surface.

Note to viewers: the next time you are told by someone that cows do not eat tree browse, and certainly not oak and hickory trees, simply show these images taken by a range animal nutritionist. There can be no argument. To auote Sargent Joe Friday of Dragnet fame: "All we want are the facts, ma'am."

95. Collapse of a patriarch created a gap- At edge of the bank of the former creek channel in an Ozark Highlands floodplain forest a large Shumard oak reached the end of its silvan rope. The base of this tree (immense by standards of the Ozarks and this species) had rotted away to "almost nothing" long before wind and gravity teamed up to bring it down. The tree species "standing to benefit" from this windfall of light included two sycamore (two largest trees), a sapling of American elm, hazelnut, and red mulberry.

The "hollow heart" of this Shummard oak was similar to that of the large (and largely hollow) northern red oak killed by bark-feeding beaver that was described above.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

96. Left a hole- Example of a forest gap created by death of an old-growth Shumaard oak along the bank of the abandoned (former) channel of a stream (Modoc Creek) in the western portion of the Ozark Highlands. With its unbelieveably rotten trunk (for a still-standing tree) this long-abiding master of the woods crashed to create an opening in the forest canopy and set the stage for the phenomenon of patch dynamics.

The first of these wo slides of this forest gap provided an opportunity to present the exterion of the mesic bottomland forest in the Ozark Plateau just described. Other large trees whose crowns dominating the canopy were sycamore, eastern cottonwood, northern red oak, chinquapin oak and (though one less) Shumard oak.

The second slide showed details of part of the immense crown of the Shumard oak along with plant species at the outer edge of this bottomland forest. The oak fell outward from the forest so that its "final resting place" was a field that had once been a prairie that was exterior to the floodplain forest that developed along Modoc Creek. This was part of the Prairie Peninsula. The major shrub in the vegetation shown here was American hazlenut. The major (and rather large) herbaceous species were two composites: cup-plant or cup rosin-weed (Silphium perfoliatum) and yellow crown-beard (Verbesina alternifolia). These were the main ecotonal species and the ones to benefit immediately from this ecological "windfall".

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July (estival aspect). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

97. Start of a forest (forest colonization)- A small old-field at edge of the botttomland hackberry-American elm-sycamore forest featured herein (and visible in background) midway through the second warm-growing season following abandonment from grain-farming. This was (had been) a little patch of a wheat field too small to pay for farming so tenant farmers just "let it go back". It was "go-back land" with a twist. Secondary plant succession followed the textbook sequence for such land in eastern North America (the vast region of the eastern deciduous forests) with hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguainalis), giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), and horseweed or mare's tail (Conyza canadensis)--the usual dominant, r-selected, pioneer, weedy plant species--being everywhere. However, seedlings of sycamore and box elder were the most common plants from the criterior of relative foliar cover. Also, there was a lot of cover of two perennial herbaceous species, one a native grass and the other and introduced and now widely naturalized legume. These were purpletop (Tridens flavus) and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza sericea= L. cuneata), respectively:.

This small parcel of old-field showed that on this bottomland forest range sycamore and box elder were colonizing or pioneering species (along with the sterotypic annual weeds of abandoned farmland). This parcel of "go-back land" was contiguous with the former channel of Modoc Creek on which old-growth sycamore and eastern cottonwood still persisted from when they had pioneered that new bank at a time known only to God. This little, former, wheat field was the next stand of long-lived, persistent, and, ultimately, large trees which will eventually be replaced by western hackberry and American elm. The sycamores and box elders will--barring introduction of more diseases or a major disturbance like wind, fire, or ice--will persist as part (constituents) of the climax bottomland forest dominated by hackberry and American elm. It was noted above that for whatever reason American elm (along with some slippery elm) was not killed out by Dutch elm disease on this tract of forest.

It was not determined definitively why there were no eastern cottonwood seedlings accompanying those of sycmore and box elder. Most of the old-growth cottonwoods in the immediate vicinity of this "go-back land" were male plants which would have resulted in reduced availability of cottonwood seed. This fact did not seem to be the sole cause for lack of eastern cottonwood in the pioneer stage of this forest range vegetation.

Part of the greater floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. July, 1991.

Cut-and-Run Logging of a Mixed Hardwood Bottomland Forest

The following section presented a sad time in the life of the subclimax or nearing old-growth stage mixed hardwood forest on the floodplain of Modoc Creek. It recorded high-grade logging at its climatic worst (or at least the subclimax of such forest abuse). The honorable and generative profession of Forestry sought for decades to overcome the stigma of deforestation caused by the frontier form of timber extraction known variously as "cut-and git out", "cut-and-run", and "cutover logging" (after cut-over forest that were not effeciently or effectively reforested following harvest).

In this section the term "clearcut" was used interchangably with cutover forest and forest clearing. This improper forest management was not a silvicultural clearcut, not a clearcut as designed and performed in professional forest practice (Forestry) in even-aged management. Instead the terms "clearcut" and "clearcut forest" were used for this textbook example of highgrading to convey the image and verbal description of deforestation in which any woody plant capable of being cut with a chainsaw (including large seedlings of climax trees and even woody shoots of grape [Vitis spp.]) were cut. Some wehre even cut partially through and left standing as hazard trees.

Throughout the three-decade plus career of this professor author unfortunately some of the most effective (and often heart-breaking) examples of proper management (good stewardship) of natural resources have come from viscerally gripping inverse examples, cases of what, when, where, why, and how not to manage range, forest, soil, etc. resources. The Modoc Creek floodplain forest presented above (and now) provided such a poignant object lesson.

How not to do it- In August or September (probably August) 2010 amateurs with chainsaws high-graded part of the Modoc Creek forest plot that was at subclimax stage of the hackberry-elm-pignut hickory-sycamore-white ash cover type. This (former) relict forest of only three to four acres was an "amalgam" of three separate properties. Only one authorized timber sale. Wood-cutters (no way would they qualify for fellers) purposely stole two logs (a sycamore and a black walnut) off of the neighbors. This could not have been a mistake (even a careless one) because mostly unfenced properties were clearly marked by concrete fence posts on the land from which sale was authorized and by a railroad tie that was the corner post (and all that remained) of the property line fence where all three properties met. There was apparently only one (at most, two) chainsaw-users as verified by "signature" evidence of complete lack of undercuts on all except two stumps (ie. trees, boles, were flat-sawed). All except two stumps lacked stump stops (height of the hinge; difference between undercut and backcut). The only effective hinges were slight differences in chainsaw paths through tree boles. As a result all stumps (other than the two) had long strands (up to eight feet in height) of wood fibers pulled from the butt log (stump section of the trunk) thereby degrading value of the largest log (= most lumber). The buffoons who improperly felled the trees were clearly rank amateurs (ie. they were not fellers just duffuses who were handed chainsaws). In addition, they were thieves. Furthermore, they left some valuable lumber in the woods to rot, including a seven or eight foot section of clear, straight, mature black walnut that they had stolen from the neighbors. In addition (and perhaps most telling and important of all) was the "hatchet-happy" habit of needlessly felling young pole-size trees (ie. the next wood crop) including trees that were clearly not in any regards in the way of tree felling or skidding of logs to trucks). Finally, as if all this was not enough, chainsaw-using, "wood idiots" wasted effort and material to fell several patently obvious hollow trees (worthless for lumber). These were then left to rot or, worse yet, once the amateurs realized trees were hollow they withdrew saw blades leaving the trees standing as forest hazards. In fact, all of the sycamore logs were, to some degree or the other, hollow-except for the one stolen from the neighbors. Most of the sycamores were growing on and stabilizing the bank of Modoc Creek. Such logging of riparian trees is now banned on federal land other than to remove hazard trees in camping and picnic areas.

In summary, a list of "sins" (and at least one crime, a criminal offense) committed in timber harvest of this forest included: 1) timber theft, 2) improper felling, 3) wood wastage, 4) needless destruction of future logs (via "hatchet-happy" sawing, wanton felling, and careless skidding), 5) removal of riparian trees). The old stand deserved better management, but maybe this sad case of failed stewardship can in some small way educate future foresters and rangemen (by inverse example) in the ways of wise use management. The "gospel" (certainly not the Gospel of Efficiency) lesson here is that forests are renewable natural resources. Even after such "mutilation" this forest can recover, even if this author will not live to see (the nature of Forestry). Ironically, felling of the young adult sycamore might have extended their lives through coppicing. Otherwise those genetic trees would have "stayed dead" after senescence at completion of their normal life cycle.Like the meanders of Modoc Creek such are the twists and turns of life.

98. After extraction- Scene of high-grade logging of a mixed hardwood floodplain forest in the western Ozark (Springfield) Plateau. This was the local community presented above with an old-growth sycamore (readily identified by its prominent lean) and an adult northern red oak still with solid lumber. That northern red oak and one chinquapin oak were the only trees worth felling for lumber in the roughly three acres on which logging took place. There was one sycamore with a solid trunk that was felled and it was stolen off of adjoining property (from a neighbor). All the other trees were either a) hollow (in the case of all lawfully harvested sycamores and other chinquapin oaks) or b) young pole-sized trees (mostly young hackberry, white ash, and box elder) that were the next tree crop and needlessly felled by a hatchet-happey woods idiot.

Examples of the senseless, hatchet-happy felling of future timber included the two poles laying criss-cross over each other. The top pole was hackberry and the bottom pole was white ash. Both poles were over ten inches basal diameter. These young trees might coppice, but 20-25 years of growth for the next wood crop was foolishly and maliciously "laid low", and for nothing as they were not in the way of felling or skidding.

Fortunately from the perspective of the next timber crop and watershed protection (and for whatever reasons) larger trees of northern oak, white ash, chinquapin oak, and box elder (standing trees to left and right of leaning sycamore) were not felled.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

99. Half-sawed, half-down , half-assed, half-hearted, and whole hazard- A dufus with a chainsaw and half a mind started to fell the old leaning sycamore shown in the immediately preceding slide (and several other slides above that). By the time the woods idiot got half-way through the trunk he figured out it was hollow. Then he pulled out the saw bar and left the already leaning tree as a hazard tree, a widow-maker waiting to happen. Most sycamores of this size and age are mostly hollow, a fact well-known to knowledgable timbermen (Steyermark, 1963, p. 790), and hence not worth felling effort for production of long lumber.

It was obvious that this large trunk was hollow because there was there were two external cavities extending upward from protruding roots. One of these was visible at the left side of the trunk in the first photograph. Note in this alide also the "barking" (knocking off of bark) of the trunk when skidding logs. This still more r careless, needless damage because there was plenty of room to have moved logs without touching a single other tree or stump. That fact was glaringly obvious from the immediately preceding photograph.

The close-grained wood of sycamore is hard to split and in former days was used for "short piece" purposes such as butcher blocks and buttons. Thus another common name was buttonwood (Kurz, 2003, p. 235). Today wooden butcher blocks are illegal in most states (too conducive to microbial populations such as Escherichia coli) and wooden buttons are largely a thing of the past. The most common use of timber in most of the Ozarks is for pallet material, and hollow logs are of limited use for pallets. This author wondered just how much stumpage this landowner got for largely destroying (for the next several decades) a scenic little tract of creek bottom for the purpose of getting (lawfully) two clear logs.

As to the tree feller it was obvious that he had no respect for life of any form. Feel sorry for his wife and children (if any were unfortunate to have him). What you see no relationship between woods and family husbandry? So much the worse for your insight. Flesh or fiber stewardship is stewardship is stewardship.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

100. Proper selection, improper felling- Stump (42 inches across at widest point) of an adult northern red oak that was properly chosen for harvest (and that could have been felled and skidded without touching aany other tree) and improperly felled. Greenhorn lumberjacks (logging neophytes) will note that this tree was felled with what we locals call a "flat cut":No undercut was made (or at least only a small one of inadequate size at best). Instead a first flat cut and then the standard backcut was sawed leaving as evidence of this improper felling method no stump shot (difference in height between undercut and backcut). Fortunately from the standpoint of sawlog quality this tree was on nearly level ground and not leaning so that merely getting two saw cuts to meet was adequate for felling with a minimum damage to the but section of the log. Specifically, there was a minimum of pulled wood fiber at the hinge, the point where undercut and back meet forming the stump shot. (More on this feature in other slides below.)

This was a good lumber tree and one properly selected for harvest. It would have grown somewhat larger before the heartwood started decaying and forming a hollow log, but the log was "ripe for harvest". There was a large population of beaver along this streatch of Modoc Creek and the bark of northern red oak is one of their favorite foods in this habitat. An example of beaver-kill of large northern red oak in this forest was presented in another chapter of Range Types (Southern and Central Forests-I). Other examples of beaver browsing on tree trunks was given above in this chapter. This particular tree was just far enough away from the streem that beaver had not fed on it. This may explain why this northern red oak survived as long as it did. Given this mess of a stump, annual growth rings could not be counted with complete accuracy, but the tree was about 80-85 plus years old.

This tree was approaching log maturity. Maturity in this context refers to "the approximate age beyond which [tree] growth falls off or decay begins to increase at a rate likely to assume economic importance". Physiological maturity is that "period of advanced age in the cycle of a tree or stand when resistance to adverse influences is so low low that death or net losses in vloumne are likely to occcur within a cutting cycle" (Munns, 1950).

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

101. Slash and waste- Relatively large limb of an 80 to 85 year-old northern red oak felled in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest in the Ozark Plateau. This limb was the first (lowermost) limb on the northern red oak featured in several slide-caption sets above and the stump of which was described in the preceding two slide-caption unit. This limb was over a foot in diameter at base and there was at least ten to twelve feet of log left with a diameter of sufficiently large to have yielded at least one 2X4 if not a 2X6. There was over six foot of clear limb log that would have handily turned out two 2X4s. This was lumber wastage to a sinful degree, or was it?

These wood "leftovers" are slash, "branches, bark, tops, chunks, cull logs, uprooted stumps, and broken or uprooted trees left on the ground after logging" (Munns, 1950).

As with most things in natural resources (and life in general), interpretation on wood left in the woods is subject to different articles of faith and value judgments. One view as seen from the ecosystem concept has it that this wood was not wasted at all because it would naturally serve as energy and nutrients for a food chain as well as a source of recycling minerals ultimately to decompose into organic matter and enrich the forest soil. The naturalist would come down on the same side as the ecosystem ecoolgist though with a simplistic "it's natural" justification. Apostles of the Gospel of Efficiency (including forest economists, and intensive-oriented silviculturalists) would see waste and inefficiency unless the slash was used as fuel wood. (The potential for fire wood is always a legitimate option whether or not it is exercised.) Watershed specialists would likely point out that such slash could reduce soil erosion during flooding and help to retain water on the floodplain longer thereby reducing flash flooding downstream, increasing soil water, and maintaining stream flow by subsurface lateral flow. Some of the larger slash could serve as germination material (eg. the large limb might function as a small "nurse log"). Slash is a form of carbon-sequestration and it continues to provide this benefit to some degree as long as some organic (carbon-containing) matter remains thereby mollifying adverse impacts of global climate change.

In the spirit of a natural forest (whether viewed from plant community, ecosystem, or landscape perspectives) logging slash is no different than tree remains resulting from ice damage as occurred several years earlier in this same forest (see above), windthrow (= blowdown), or washout. Undeniably, devestation by chainsaw was the same general impact as tree destruction from ice, wind (eg. tornado), flood, beaver-kill, or insect-induced death (eg. the native red oak bore [Enaphalodes rufulus] that is widespread throughout the Ozark Plateau). Logically, however, one unequivocal fact remains: this wood was left from human harvest. With irrefutable logic it must be admitted that given the wood was harvested for human use it should have been used for that purpose as efficiently and completely as possible. This forest was used (pathetic as that usage was) for and as a wood crop. It was not a natural area in a National Park where even salvage logging is forbidden. Acts of God (Nature) did not leave the slash. Man did. There was not justifiable reason (excuse) for leaving the merchantable lumber of the red oak limb that was worth at least several 2X4s and 2X6s. (Even more egregious lumber waste was shown below.)

Worse by far--and not open to interpretation--was needless and, unquestionably, wasteful felling of numerous pole-sized trees of hackberry, white ash, box elder, and American elm. For example, the pole-sized (six-inch basal diameter) hackberry laying over the red oak limb was a 15 year old tree of the next wood crop. It--like all such "young stuff"-- was needlessly cut by hatch-happy fellers. Wood from hackberry, elm, and soft maples like box elder is far from the best, but it would make decent pallet lumber which was all any of this wood was going to be used for anyway. Wood of hackberry, white ash, and chinquapin oak is certainly superior to that of sycamore for pallet purposes, and hackberry, elm, and ash do not have the degree of hollowness that sycamore has.

This whole operation was conducted by a group of rank amatuers equipped with chainsaws that did not know the first thing about using them beyond starting them. Theu could not even execute a simple undercut. The most immediately cuppable entity was the sawmill owner-operator who should never have turned such novices loose in timber. It is a wonder there were not human bodies lying beside the senselessly felled poles and wasted logs.

Herbaceous vegetation in this clearing was described below in this same "cut-and-run" logging section within the caption entitled "patch cut".

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

102. Logging along the creek- Stumps of sycamore and chinquapin oak on the outer bank of an Ozark stream following high-grade ("cut-and-run") logging at about its worst). The stump at left in first photograph was a sound chinquapin oak and one of only two sound saw logs legally taken in the entire logging operation. Two other logs fit for felling were stolen off neighboring property. Note that the sycamore was hollow (second of these two photographs).

These trees were growing on the outer bank of Modoc Creek whereas sycamores on the opposite bank were growing on the immediate bank and even bars of the perimeter of the stream channel. These latter trees should not have been logged period and instead should have been protected as part of the riparian buffer zone or protective barrier. States in the Ozark Region such as Missouri and Oklahoma have no laws prohibiting logging and other stream channel-damaging activities so this high-grade logging was legal. It was also poor forest practice (mismanagement of the forest and associated stream corridor) from the obvious standpoint of stream stability, especially of banks and even peripheral portions of the stream bed. Some logs on the far side of the stream ha been drug through the creek across to the other side. Progressive states such as California have strict laws (and rather strictly enforced) forbidding such stream-damaging practices. (Even if states like Oklahoma and Missouri had such statues there would almost assuredly be no enforcement of them.) Viewers can readily see the damage done to Modoc Creek by the dragging of logs across the stream to this side (midground of both slides).

Readers should also observe that this sycamore was felled improperly. No undercut was made. Undercut is the notch cut or sawed into the lower portion of the base log and face of the stump in order to direct or guide the falling tree. The undercut actually consist of two faces: 1) a diagonal, downward-directed cut of the log portion of the trunk and 2) a flat, horizontal or base cut on the stump part of the trunk. The notch or undercut should be roughly one-third of the way through the trunk with the diagonal face roughly equal to depth or diameter of the flat face. The other cut is the < u>backcut which is opposite the undercut and done after the undercut has been completed. Another acceptable form of undercut is the Dutchman notch in which the flat surface is on the log rather than the stump. In making the standard undercut the diagonal or top face is cut first and the lower horizontal face is cut next. Then the horizontal (more-or-less) backcut is made. A narrow strip of uncut wood remains between undercut and backcut as the tree starts to fall. This uncut wood that breaks off leaving short splitters is the hinge. The difference in height between undercut and backcut (ie. height of hinge) is the stump shot.

In the first photograph the chinquapin oak (left stump) was properly felled and has a short yet complete stump shot and very little pulled fibers at the hinge. The hollow sycamore by contrast had no stump shot or hinge. This was partly due to the hollow center of the trunk, but mostly because no undercut had been made (note absence of stump shot even solid perimeter of the stump).Instead of using undercut and backcut this sycamore (and almost every other tree felled in this traact) was "flat sawed" with two cuts made from opposite sides of the trunk at about the same height as evidenced by a short stump shot (the difference in height between the two opposing saw cuts). This imporper felling resulted in the tree trunk breaking and leaving wood fibers on the butt (stump) end of the first (largest) log. In tree felling the tree is supposed to fall as a result of cutting completely through the trunk except at the hinge (the narrow strip of uncut wood between undercut and backcut). In this instance there was no undercut (just an opposite cut) nor was there a complete through-cut (a near-meeting or uniting--except at the hinge--of two saw paths). The result was that when the tree fell without a complete through-cut it so that it broke off at the outer portion of the stump and log leaving part of the wood that should have been on the butt (stump) log on the stump. This reduced value of this largest sycamore log (which was so hollow that it was not worth the effort to begin with).

What a bunch of morons. The guys trying to use these saws were rank amateurs or novices or, in woods parlance, "greenhorns". How they kept from sawing their legs off or landing trees on top of them was a matter of "dumb luck" or God's grace.

Breakage at outer edge of stumps instead of hinges was a signature on almost all stumps left from this high-grading.

103. The next crop and a little cover for a theft- Stump of a fairly young sycamore and neighboring large sapling or small pole of hackberry. The log of this tree stolen off of adjoining private property that was part of the tract of mixed hardwood bottomland forest that was high-grade logged. A railroad tie that had been a corner post of the prevously existing fence clearly showed this sycamore to be on the other side of the property line. Although the chainsaw-wielding retards that did this logging were so stupid and/or "green" (inexperienced) they could not even properly fell trees, it is highly unlikely that they did not realize they were on the neighbor's property. Given the fact that these "hatchet-happy" greenhorns felled young pole-sized trees of hackberry, white ash, American elm, and box elder all over this tract that were not even close to the skid trail or any felled tree, it was obvious that this hackberry was purposely left as some little cover over the stump of the stolen log (the forest was logged in late August or September when leaves were still on trees). Their attempts to cover their crime was futile because the crown of this sycamore fell even father onto the neighbor's land bringing down another one of their sycamores (one farther inside the property line) and young American elm with it. This scene of devestation and waste was shown in the next slide.

Such action (inaction with regard to the hackberry) was about as mindless as everything else that these woods idiots did because anyone less stupid than these jaspers could read the crime scene. Notwithstanding, leaving the young tree (and of a species with wood superior to sycamore) did provide one example (even if for the wrong reason) leaving some trees for the next wood crop (which would undoubtedly to be high-graded as well).

This was the only one of several sawed sycamores that was not hollow (ie. fit for harvest)-- and it was stolen from the neighbors as well as being felled incorrectly. Readers should again take note that either an undercut was a) too small and/or improperly placed or b) not made at all (most likely the latter). Students will also observe that there was very little if any stump shot. Instead three cuts were used in felling the tree which remained attached for a time at the stump where it had not been sawed through for a distance of over one-third the diameter of the trunk. What gross incompetence! And these buffons were let loose in timber.

Felling terms were defined in the immediately preceding caption.

These same two trees (with the sycamore standing) were shown above where it was described how the climax hackberry (a species rated as Tolerant) was replacing the pioneer (and Intolerant) sycamore.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

104. More slash and more waste- Crown of a sycamore that was felled in the wrong direction so that it broke off the crown of a neighboring box elder and fell into the crown of a young American elm which was promptly sawed off. All three trees were on the neighbor's land. This crown was of the sycamore that was wrongly (illegally and improperly) felled as shown and described in the immediately preceding slide-caption set. The box elder that was broken off was hollow (as were almost all of sycamores in this forest tract). The sapling of American elm was potentially part of the next timber crop.

The large limbs of the sycamore were left to rot which as was described above (the "slash and waste" caption) could be interpreted as either waste of wood or beneficial debris. These limbs were not straight enough to be sawed into lumber (unlike the previously discussed case of northern red oak) so about the only potential direct human use of such slash was for fire wood.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

105. Degraded wildlife habitat or timber stand improvement?- A hollow chinquapin oak felled in high-grade logging. It would have been obvious to most knowledgable fellers that this was a hollow tree, but the jokers high-grading this tract did good to tell trees from a fence posts (they conveniently overlooked the latter when stealing timber across the fenceline). The hollow of this tree extended to the outside of its trunk (right side of stump in this photograph) so that an observant feller would have seen that the tree was not worth the effort or saw fuel to fell. (These wood jokers with chainsaws were not stellar examples of the "Gospel of Efficiency" though textbook examples of timber theft and poor felling technique.)

Felling of such "trash trees" is another practice the management properity of which is subject to forest goals and value judgments. From standpoint of commercial timber production this chinquapin oak could be regarded as a wolf tree, one with a relatively large crown that takes up space, uses soil water, blocks light, etc. so as to compete with or even exclude more economically valuable trees (Helms, 1998). Elimination of such "trash timber" permits production of other trees that are superior from the standpoint of stumpage. The opposite view is equally valid from the standpoint of wildlife production and structure/function of old-growth forest. While hollow trees like this chinquapin oak are unfit for any wood production except fire wood (and obviously of very limited utility for fuel) their cavities make ideal homes for cavity nesting birds like pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus), eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis), and wood duck (Aix sponsa); furbearers such as coon (Procyon lotor) and 'possum (Didelphis virginiana); and smaller mammals as, for example, eastern flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans).

The generally valid management practice of getting rid of trees that have no stumpage value so as to permit growth of more monetarily valuable trees was negated--at least in the near term--in the specific instance of this chinquapin oak because the guy that felled this tree broke off a neighboring ten to fifteen year-old box elder. No, box elder, a soft maple, is not a species particularily valuable for lumber, but box elder iis exactly the prdominant tree species that will pioneer this patch of cut-over ground. Only now the landowner will have to wait another decade or more to get back what was killed in felling the "trash tree".

So again value judgments largely determine forest goals on small forest stands such as the this tract of about three acres (of legally owned property; not counting adjacent property from which loggers stole timber). Given that there were only two trees of any lumber value (and far more future timber value was destroyed than was harvested of current marketable wood), many (porbably most) owners of such small acreage would opt for having wildlife and "pretty woods" to walk along the creek through rather than havea a mess and tornatic-like devestation for several years. In fact, that is the stated reason most people give for moving from town to their recluse on a small place in the Ozarks. Conversely, if the small landowner would rather have a proverbial "plug nickel" from high-grading that could go toward property taxes than see a pileated woodpecker or enjoy an old-growth forest he could justify the situation seen in these photographs in this treatment.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

106. Patch cut- A small clearing in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest created by high-grade logging (and extraordinarily wasteful and unnecessaarily destructive even by high-grading standards). This is another and more general or summary view of timber extraction on this small tract. The stump at left midground was a box elder and the one at far right (midground) was a chinquapin oak. This photograph was used as a base line from which slides in subsequent years could serve to show redevelopment of forest vegetation. In other words, this patch of cut-over bottomland forest was an example of "new land" or an area Clementsian denudation from which the "dynamic vegetation" of secondary plant succession could be photographically displayed. This is the start point of patch dynamics.

Trees still standing in the distant background were mostly on another property (this property did not suffer timber theft). Tree species included larger individuals of northern red oak, sycmore, chinquapin oak, box elder, and white ash along with smaller trees of the climax hackberry, American elm and pignut or bitternut hickory. Herbaceous vegetation in the clearing was almost exclusively dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) and common mouse-ear chichweed (Cerastium vulgatum), both of which are naturalized (and weedy) Eurasian, cool-seasopn annual forbs. There were also some plants of the native chickweed (C. brachlypodum) and false rune anemone (Isopyrum biternatium) along with smaller cover of bigleaf waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense) and Virginia waterleaf (H. virginianum), all native forbs. Graminoids included Virginia andd silky wildryes (Elymus virginicus, E. villosus, respectively) and Davis' caaric sedge (Carex davisii), all natives. These natives were overwhelmed by dead nettle and mouse-ear chickweed, but in this winter society--and in no small part due to logging disturbance-- these native graminoids were to wait until later in the spring season to have their "moment in the sun".

This same herbaceous layer was also presented in several photographs above such as the one for the caption entitled "Slash and waste" and in the two slides shown immediately below.

107. Stolen timber and stump pull- This stump was that of another black walnut log stolen off neighboring property, and in clear view of the last part of the original property line fence (hand-poured concrete fence post). Outright, blatant timber theft!. As it turned out stumpage (commercial value of standing or uncut timber) this black walnut and, ultimately, of the log itself was exrtremely low due to the hollow or cavity (admittedly small) caused by decay of heartwood (second slide). If that had not been bad enough, the entire log was rendered nearly worthless (essentially a total loss with regard to walnut lumber) due to the same improper felling procedure (no or inadequate undercut, tree felled in wrong direction, etc ) that was shown and described in slides and captions above.

Shown in these two slides was a textbook example of stump pull. Stump pull is the condition or situation whereby wood fibers remain attached to the stump as the tree falls resulting in removal of these fibers from the log. This greatly reduces the value of the log. In fact, if enough fibers are pulled from the log it can be a complete economic loss (and before the tree hits the ground) as was the case here. The log from this amateurish felling job is fit only for pallet lumber or, perhaps, only fire wood. (It was that good a quality log as standing timber.) Stump pull (= pulled fibers) typically takes place when the undercut was improperly placed so that the tree starts to fall before the backcut reaches the undercut.

The height or longest segment of pulled fibers remaining attached to this stump exceeded seven feet (first slide). Furthermore, thickness of the pulled fiber extended about a quarter way through the log (first slide).

A very sad end for what was at one time a valuable black walnut.

The log was stolen and then it was rendered nearly worthless (other than as salvage wood) by improper felling and the story did not end there. The rest of this 'botched crime" and the final stage of this woeful tale of lumber robbery was recorded in the next two slides.

Sadly, many (certainly a high proportion) of the small, independent sawmills (gypo mills in the lingo of western logging) in the western Ozark Plateau have a reputation (and again, regretably, a deserved reputation) just above child molesters and horse theives. This is pictorial evidence of timber theft, a crime on par with cattle rustling.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

Important caution to landowners who would have timber to sell: check with knowledgable neighbors as to the reputation of any would-be buyers who operate or work for "piss ant" gypo sawmills. In the Ozark Plateau of northeastern Oklahoma, southwestern Missouri, and northwestern Arkansas a high propotion of sawmill folks are shisters, timber theives, and lumber confidence men, etc.

108. Lumber left in the woods- "Waste always makes me angry" (Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936). The upper trunk (portion just below the crown) of a black walnut stolen from adjoining property and improperly felled resulting in stump pull. The stump with pulled fibers extending for a length of overr seven feet was shown and explained in the previous slide-caption unit (immediately above). To further compound this illegal, unethical, and amateurish act the fellers left between seven and eight feet of clear, mature black walnut timber as seen here.

Viewers will readily see that the wood in this log left to rot in the woods was good "fully ripe" black walnut. There was about 13 inches of mature (ie. walnut-colored) wood within the zones of bark and living sapwood. In fact, given hollowness of the standing tree (and, then, the log) plus the fact that almost eight feet of a large section of wood fibers were torn from the log (stump pull) by imporper felling (slides immediately above), the section of trunk left in the forest was probably about the only part of the log that had any walnut lumber value. What a bunch of zeros this woods yahoos were.

It should be stressed that the landowner who sold this stumpage was not in any way resolved of any of the action of this high-grading (and timber theft). The landowner might or might not be legally liable for the stolen timber, but he most surely was ultimately the party most culpable and the one who suffered the greatest loss. Neglect and ignorance of action (and of the law) would not absolve this (or any other) landowner of any legal, ethical, and/or moral wrongs committed with his permission and blessing. Any fiduciary duties (if only to future generations) of the landowner were (are) not obviated as a result of unprofessional conduct by those whom he hired, cooperated with, or sold products to. The landowner could have checked into the reputation of the local sawmill operator he sold his timber to.

A reiterated caution to owners of black walnut trees: Never sell walnut logs to anybody without first checking into the reputation and record of integrity (or lack thereof) of anyone who offers to buy black walnut from you. In certain areas such as the western Ozark Mountain Region many, and probably most, men who offer to buy walnut logs are crooks, in effect timber theives. These wood robbers are unscrupulous agents in the lumber traffic who either a) are uneducated in proper felling, bucking, skidding, and selling logs or b) knowingly cheat clueless, trusting tree sellers. An unsettlingly high percentage of those who take black walnut logs out of the woods avail themselves of every opportunity to cheat (an unethical but legal form of lumber theft) those most vulnerable such as land-owning widows, the elderly, and newcomers. These con-men return only a small portion of log price to the tree owner usually with a fake apology about the current low market price for walnut lumber. This author was, as a young man and naive hillbilly, a victim of just such ruthless dealings by an independent "walnut man" who turned out to be a lumber crook.

Public servants of state forest or natural resource departments (eg. Missouri Department of Conservation) frequently have list of repuptable, fair-dealing walnut log jobbers. There are fine, upstanding, hard-working, God-fearing folk in the walnut log business, but many are the opposite. Never make assumptions when selling black walnut logs. A safe and herein recommended rule of thumb is this: everyone who offers to buy walnut logs off of a landowner is a shister, a timber thief, until proven otherwise.

Honest walnut loggers are out there, but you have to know where and how to find them. Such as life in all things of quality.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December.

Simple post script: It is is the total disregard for resources and life in general that caused the scene just seen. Such senseless carnage and wastage have created the largely bumb rap and bad reputation that the profession of Forestry and the forest industries have been trying to live down for decades. Battles against such crimes (both legal and ethical) as just shown will, unfortunately, be endless as long as there are humans in the woods who would rather fell and steal trees than grow the wood crop.

The next chapter in the sad saga of cut-and-run logging of the Modoc Creek mixed hardwood bottomland forest. The preceding episode showed results of high-grade logging (and timber theft) of this climax forest (based on features of species composition and physiogonomy; not old-growth) in early winter following timber harvest (successional denudation; ecosystem perturbation) the preceding late summer/early autumn. The following set of slides and captions described vegetation of the recovering forest during the following mid-spring through early summer (ie. approximate midpoint of the first full growing season after wood-cutting operations). Vegetational response ranged from classic secondary plant succession typical of cutover forest to simple resprouting of felled trees (ie. regrowth of established young to adult trees) of all species some of which were climax species. Similarily, there were numerous seedlings (sexual regeneration) of all tree species, both climax and seral, tolerant and intolerant, except for sycamore. Lack of sexual reproduction in sycamore was clearly atypical response. It was hypothesized by the author that it was too early in the revegetation process (too soon following logging) for appearance of seedlings of sycamore, a characteristic pioneering/colonizing species.

109. Unpunishable crime- Severe damage to bank of Modoc Creek caused by action by amateur loggers (and, as shown above, timber thieves) followed by soil erosion during spring flooding. Trees on the immediate bank od streams should not be logged other than in emergency situations (eg. backup of flood waters so as to increase threats to human life and flood damage to property). To make matters worse and add injury on top of injury, woodcutters carelessly knocked down the young boxelder (part of the future would-have-been wood crop) the log of which laid across the foreground of the first of these two photographs.

The pioneer plant community of this severely eroded stream bank included black nightshade (Solanum americanum), pokeberry, horseweed or mare's tail (Conyza canadensis), common or bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), and beef steak plant (Perilla frutescens). The last two of these are naturalized exotics (from Eurasia and the subcontinent of India, respectively).

This was the scene late spring following spring flooding and about nine months after high-grading logging. This land was private property--and even though the logging was done on the sly (and by the tenant not the actual landowner) and resulted in inflicted flood damage on downstream landowners--there was essentially no legal recourse by which this poor stewardship could be punished or justice rendered to neighbors whose adjoined land was harmed.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June; late spring. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

110. Phytocolonizers- The pioneering or first seral stage in secondary plant succession on a cutover mixed hardwood bottomland forest on the immediate bank of Modoc Creek, a typical stream in the western Ozark Plateau. The most prominent and local dominant at this late spring season was black nightshade. The dying ground cover was common chickweed (Stellaria media), a naturalized Eurasian annual of family Caryophyllaceae, Large umbrella-like leaves were of mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), a native perennial forb. In background were a few plants of mare's tail or horseweed, a native annual compositethat is a classic colonizer of old fields and cutover forests.

The crown (upper limbs) that remained as slash were of black walnut. The log of this tree was ruined totally as a veneer sawlog because the unskilled (and perhaps drunk or dopped) woodcutters felled it imporperly leaving over a yard of stump pull on the log and torn from the heartwood of the now-worthless log.

111. Fabric of an alien carpet- Common chickweed (Stellaria media), a naturalized Eurasian annual, was the dominant of the herbaceous understorey of a cutover (highgraded) mixed hardwood bottomland forest on the floodplain of Modoc Creek in the western Ozark (Springfield) Plateau. This forb of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae) is widely distributed and nearly ubiquitous on disturbed habirtats throughout the Ozark Highlands, especially in winters and springs having moisture and temperature conditions favorable to this invasive species.

While common chickweed unquestionably is a weed, its presence on this drastically altered forest community was assuredly beneficial. It provided a living protective cover on certain parts of the floor of the imporperly harvested forest that otherwise would have been far more vulnerable to ravages of soil loss by flood waters. This was the case because other (and native) species in the sporadic (patchy) cover of the forest floor were perennials and could not colonize bare ground.(These various native perennials included species of grasses, caric sedges, and forbs, as well as seedlings of shrubs and trees all of which were covered elsewhere in this section.)

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; late-bloom phenological stage.

112. Up close to a forest alien- Detailed views of upper shoots of common chickweed. Most plants were approaching the post-bloom stage, but a few floral specimens were present for viewers' education.Common chickweed is a pesky weed of disturbed areas throughout the Ozark Plateau Region, but (as was explained immediately above) presence of this naturalized (from Eurasia) cool-season annual provides a protective carpet for otherwise bare soil in yards, garden plots, overgrazed pastures, and receltly logged forests. The white man--through species introduction followed by denudation that caused ecosystem disfunction--obviously created a new ecological niche for this exotic invader.

In this naturalized and invasive alien really a weed if it provides a protective benefit to the ecosystem thereby promoting forest recovery? Be ready to defend your answer. 10 points.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; late-bloom phenological stage.

113. Cutover colonizers- Three views of a local clearcut area resulting from high-grading logging of a mixed hardwood forest on floodplain of Modoc Creek, a perennial stream in the western Springfield (Ozark) Plateau. This was the appearance of the first seral stage (the colonizing plant community) in the first spring after denudation by woodcutting. Standard colonizing species of such cutover forest, which were visible in all three of these slides, included horseweed or mare's-tail, black nightshade, bull or common thistle, and common chickweed, the last two of which were nautualized Eurasian weeds.(Chickweed was the groundcover species and not prominent in these slides.)

In the first of these three slides a seedling of western hackberry (left foreground), a climax dominant tree of this forest, was accompanied by various sprouts of the shrub, elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), that in newly available and unlimited light was released from the lower woody layer. The tree of intermediate pole size in background was a young adult hackberry that was wantonly felled for nothing. Such wasteful and hatchet-happy sawing was on par with shamful shooting of bison on the plains where they too were left to rot with nothing utilized following senseless slaughter. The woody resprouts to left of the felled hackberry were those of spicebush (Linderia benzoin) that was a climax understorey dominant which had been topkilled the preceding winter by temperatures as low as -20 degrees fahrenheit.

The second slide of this local clearcut was also of seral vegetation dominated by horesweed or mare's-tail with some bull thistle and black nightshade along with a seedling of white ash (right foreground) and resprouts of summer grape (Vitis aestivalis). Another seedling of white ash was visible in the third photograph (left-center midground) as well as sprouts of winter topkilled spicebush.

There were scattered plants of silky wildrye (Elymus villosus), Davis' caric sedge (Carex davisii), and James' caric sedge (C. jamesii) throughout this clearcut patch though cover was considerably less than in a smaller clearcut spot shown in the two slides immediately below.

114. Plant life on a smaller clearcut area- Adjoining the larger clearcut patch described in the immediately preceding three photographs was this littlier "slicked-off" spot of a floodplain mixed hardwood forest. The cespitose graminoids (featured prominently in the first of these two slides) at this spot were silky wildrye, Davis' caric sedge, and James' caric sedge. The prominent bushes with large eliptical leaves were spicebush, the dominant climax shrub of this bottomland which had been topkilled by temperatures as low as -20 degrees fahrenheit resulting from a "blue norther" (Arctic cold front) that brought a blizzard in the preceding early February. Most of the rest of the recovering forest vegetation was mare's-tail or horseweed, black nightshade, and bull thistle; in winter and early spring Eurasian common chichweed had dominated as a groundcover forb.

The stump was that of a black walnut that had been stolen in the previous late summer (wood-monkeys legally cutting trees on adjoining property stole this, and most of the larger trees they logged, off of a neighbor who was an absentee landowner).

The next year- The following short section showed plant life on a clearcut mixed hardwood bottomland forest the second spring through mid-summer after high-grade logging (and timber theft) in late summer or early autumn three summers previously. The recovering forest range vegetation on this sere was still in the pioneer or cololnizing stage-- and it was the second year of Extreme to Extraordinary Drought (Palmer Index).

115. Rank spring herbage- A pair of "nested photoplots" showing peak standing crop of herbaceous species on a clearcut mixed hardwood bottomland forest the second spring after high-grading logging in late summer (or early autumn) two and half years ago. The first photograph presented the overall seral vegetation on this forest range in late spring of the second full growing season following destructive logging that basically amounted to deforestation (iel not proper silvicultural management for this uneven-aged forest).

The dominant species in this seral plant community was the rank-growing, perennial pokeberry or pokeweed. The associate herbaceous species varied locally (a patchwork arrangement of local populations) including horseweed or marestail. tail, black nightshade, and common or bull thistle. Earlier in winter through early spring the dominant herb was the naturalized, Eurasian annual, common chickweed.

The major grass on this clearcut was woodreed grass (Cinna arundinacea) which ws featured in the second photograph ("nested photoplot"). This was an extremely large and vigerous individual of this species. Its release in the clearcut from limited light of the closed canopy forest was a major factor that allowed the genetic potential (at least, more of the genetic potential) of this genotype to be expressed. This was the same grass plant in the lower right corner of the first photograph. A large pokeweed was immediately behind the robust woodreed grass. There were also some plants of woodland bluegrass (Poa sylvestris) and whitegrass (Leersia virginica).

The most abundant grasslike plant species on this clearcut was Short's caric sedge (Carex shortiana).

This same view of this pioneer forest vegetation later in this same growing season (in early summer and mid-summer) was presented below.

There were zones of forest vegetation on this clearcut, especially around its perimeter, that were dominated by cover opf woody species. this was fetured below.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; late spring. Extreme Drought (Palmer Scale). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

116. Provided foragd for deer- Grazing defoliation of horseweed or mare'stail (taller shoots with liner leaves) and hedge parsley (Torilis nodoza) by white-tailed deer in mid to late spring on a clearing, a cutover tractk of mixed hardwood bottomland forest the second spring following deforestation. "Mother Nature abhors a vacuum". Destructive highgrade logging--and it was timber theft to boot--created improved habitat for white-taioled deer. A low resprout shoot of fox grape (Vitis vulpina) was in left-center midground of this "photoplot".

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; late spring.

117. Another look from the perimeter- Vernal vegetation on the edge of a cutover mixed hardwood bottomland forest along perimetern of an adjoining uncut forest tract There were leaves on the leader of a seedling of sugar maple, the tree species with the highest tolerance rating (Very Tolerant; Wenger, 1984) in this forest range type, at right margin. The herbaceous species with the largest, tallest shoots and most foliar cover was pokeweed or pokeberry, a rank-growing, perennial woodland forb. Two other prominent forbs in this "photoquadrant" were Canada woodnettle and horseweed or mare'stail. Horseweed is another rank-growing forb, and a colonizing species like pokweeed, but this latter species is an annual of the Compositae. Canada woodnettle, a fiercely stinging species, was a locally dominant forb of the densely shaded floor of the climax mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Canada woodnettle persisted on the coutover forest. Another forb with some representation was beefstake plant (Perilla frutescens), a naturalized (introduced from India), weedy annual of the mint family.

The two individuals of cespitose grass in center foreground were Canada or nodding wildrye and silky wildrye (left and right, respectively) the overall dominant grass species of this bottomland forest range. The two species are quite distinctive and readily identifiable frome each other in the forest when they can be compared sise-by-side. Canada wildrye matures (is more advanced in phenologal stage) at least two weeks ahead of silky wildrye. This latter species is almost always the larger on the same local habitat and has erect and comparatively larger spikes. As indicated by the alternative common name of nodding wildrye, the spikes of Elymus canadensis are pendant (drooping or "nodding").

118. Later in the season- Herbaceous vegetation on a cutover mixed hardwood bottomland forest in early summer of the second full growing season following highgrade logging (and all timber was stolen as well). This was the second year of the pioneer stage of forest succession. Plant species were the same as those of the preceding--the first--full growing season. These included pokeberry or pokeweed, the dominant of recovering forest range vegetation presented in this view, mare's tail or horseweed, the associate species as seen here, common or bull thistle, woodreed grass, woodland bluegrass, whitegrass, and Short's cric sedge.

This was the same view as presented in the pair of "nested photoplots" presented in the slide-capiton set before the immediately preceding set and in the slide-caption set after the immediately succeding set.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; early summer. Extreme Drought (Palmer Scale).FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

119. Another later-in-the-season view- Herbaceous vegetation on a cutover mixed hardwood bottomland forest in early summer of the second full growing season following highgrade logging (deforestation). This "photoplot" was taken from a slightly different camera point (different focal point or camera angle) than that of the preceding photograph. This "photoplot' featured mature plants of common or bull thistle at peak stage of flowering along with pokeberry and horseweed or mare'stail. There was relatively minor cover of woodreed grass and fox grape. (Photographs with grreater cover and closer-in views of woodreed grass and fox grape were presented in other slides of this section.)

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early July; early summer. FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

120. Where recovering vegetation was mostly woody- Portion of a clearcut in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest closer to the perimeter of an adjoining uncut forest. At this edge of the clearing or cutover forest (it was not a silvicultural clearcut) resprout shoots fox grape (Vitis vulpina) comprised the dominant plant species. Major (important) herbaceous species were horseweed or mare'stail and pokeberry. The stump (left-center foreground) was that of black walnut, the one with stump pull that was festured above. Unlike stumps of fox grape, the black walnut stump did not resprout.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June; late spring. Extreme Drought (Palmer Scale). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

121. Later yet (and drier) in the season- Herbaceous vegetation on a cutover mixed hardwood bottomland forest in mid-summer of the second full growing season following highgrade logging (basically deforestation). This was the second year of the pioneer stage of forest succession. The view presented in this photograph was about the same as views shown above in late May and late June. This view of the pioneer seral forest vegetation was taken at somewhat closer camera distance (slash in center foreground of this and preceding photographs served as a local "landmark".

Plant species were the same as those of the preceding photographs from this camera point. They were also the same seral (and, some of, the same climax) plant species as those of last year, the first full growing season following deforestation. The major plant species seen here was pokeweed or pokeberry, the overall dominant forb of the forest clearing. Although there were almost three months remaining before average date of the first killing frost, these shoots of pokeberry were "about done for". Senescence of annual shoots of this perennial forb was a function of near-completion of the natural annual cycle and a hastening thereof combined with stress of Extraordinary Drought, including abnormally high ambient temperatures.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; mid-summer. Extraordinary Drought (Palmer Scale). FRES No. 17 (Elm-Ash-Cottonwood Forest Ecosystem). K-92 (Elm-Ash). SAF 93 (Sugarberry-American Elm- Green Ash). Mixed Hardwood Series, 223.1, in Southeastern Swamp and Riparian Forest biotic community Brown et al (1998, p. 43). Mesic Bottomland Forest (Nelson, 2005, ps. 147-150). Ozark Highlands- Springfield Plateau Ecoregion, 39a (Woods et al., 2005).

Cutover weed patch- Dense seral community of pioneering forbs in the third warm-growning season following clearcutting of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Major forbs were common thistle or bull thistle, horseweed or mare'stail, pokeberry or pokeweed, hedge parsley (Torilis japonicus), and fox grape.

This was the same "weed patch" (the first stage of secondary forest succession) presented above as shown one and two warm-growing seasons before these two views. This was the same pioneer forest community that developed in the first growing season following a destructive clearcutting (improper harvest method; not a silvicultrual method) of a climax-composition (though not old-growth) forest. There were a few climax woody species such as resprouts of fox grape and seedlings of box-elder, pignut hickory, and American bladdernut. The main climax species, however, were herbaceous species (specifically grasses). Woodreed grass (Cinna arundinacea) was the major one of these decreaser grasses while woodland bluegrass (Poa sylvestris) and whitegrass (Leersia virginica) completed the list of climax grasses.

122. Not exactly dead- Dead shoot (first slide) and fruit-bearing capitula loaded with live achenes (second slide) of common or bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) on a clearcut mixed hardwood bottomland forest. This shoot and the bountiful crop of achenes were produced the first cool-season (growing season for the rosettes of this species) following high-grading of this floodplain forest. The improper form of clear-cutting, which was nothing other than "cut-and-run" logging, was in late summer or early autumn. By the subsequent summer a crop of bull thistle had already "made seed" for the next crop. Plant organs seen here were that first (subsequent) summer crop.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma. land). Mid-December; dead annual plant, fruit-drop phenological stages.

123. Alien in winter; the second thistle crop-Winter rosettes of common or bull thistle that were growing in early winter of the second cool-growing season following high-grade clear-cutting two summers ago. This was the second crop of this naturalized, Eurasian noxious plant after destruction of a second-growth forest at subclimax to climax stage of forest development. The first two photographs had last year's shoot of a dead bull thistle of that first crop, plants of the first generation presented in the immediately preceding slide-caption set. In other words, these first two slides showed two-generations (mother plant and daughter plant) of bull thistle, at least in theory. In reality, it was possible that both generations were from the same (the original) seed source--the source of the first crop--dead stalks and achene-bearing heads of which were presented in the immediately preceding set as well as in the first two slides of this set. Afterall, where did propagules (achenes) for that first generation come from? Did they blow in on the clearcut (ie. after logging)? Or where achenes/seeds already present in the soil of the undisturbed late seral to climax forest?

Bull or common thistle is a biennial that overwinters as a rosette followed by growth, development, sexual reproduction, and death of the plant (that particular genetic individual or genotype).

Eurasian bull or common thistle can be a praticularily aggressive weed at local scale on severely disturbed habitats. Such environments are not necessarily harsh or hostile habitats and, in point of fact, can be very rich, highly favorable homes for colonizing or pioneering plant species. In fact, some plant species such as Cirsium vulgare do best or even require such conditions. This is the basis of the concept of r-selected species of which common thistle is a textbook example. The theory of r-selected vs K-selected species is treated in most standard Ecology text. The author recommended Barbour et al. (1999, ps. 109-111). In the classification of plant life cycles and adaptations to resource use articulated by Grime (1979) C. vulgare might well qualify as a ruderal, a plant species that requires continued disturbance (continually available disturbed habitats) for its survival. Species that fit the standard view of r-selection allocate relatively large quantites of resources for sexual reproduction.. They also allocate more effort to growth of shoots in comparison to roots because most are annuals or, like, many Cirsium species, biennials.

The short, green forb aurrounding these thistles was common chickweed (Stellaria media), another naturalized Eurasian weed which, in contrast to biennial thistles, is an annual.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma. land). Mid-December; winter rosette or biennial overwintering phenological stage.

124. Biennial features- Details of leaf arrangement in and around the center of a rosette (first slide) and of a single leaf (seond slide) of common or bull thistle. The sharp extensions of midveins (midribs, midnerves, or whatever) are interpreted as spines. The intricate arrangement of leaves and the shape, color, and morphology of leaves of bull thistle are attractive if not botanically alluring in their own way. The small leaves are those of common chichweed alluded to in the immediately preceding caption.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Mid-December; winter rosette or biennial overwintering phenological stage.

125. Big weed at home-two views Two stagees of mature growth (from two slightly different camera angles) of the same plant of bull thistle as presented in the last slide-caption set and in the third slide of the second above (from here) two slide-caption set. The first of these two slides was of the bull thistle plant at maximum size (crown cover, height, and estimated biomass) just before appearance of floral buds. The second slide was of the adult thistle plant at stages of peak-bloom and (maximum biomass of shoot). Height of this bull thistle at this final adult size (second slide) was 8.5 feet. At this point of the life cycle of this particular individual some lower leaves had already been shed (had died yet remained attached to plant stalk or main stem) and other leaves were senescing, thus the plant was more sparsely foliated at this phenological stage.

Bull thistle, as shown in these two and subsequent photographs, is a textbook example of an r-selected plant species.The biological phenomena of r-selection (vs. K-Selection) and, the similar though more specific, case of ruderal plants (ruderal species) or ruderals was explained general two photo-captions above. Many ruderals allocate a disproportionately high share of growth resources for production of vegetative structures as shoots (leaves and stems) and for sexual reproduction (resource-expensive, elaborate flowers and much fruit) in comparison to production of roots and for asexual reproduction.

This common or bull thistle specimen was one of several plants of the second crop of this species that grew on a mixed hardwood bottomland forest following clear-cutting three summers (two full growing seasons) ago. It was not known if plants such as the one seen here was produced from seed (seed-filled achenes) of the first crop (ie. the second generation) or if the plants-- represented by this one adult plant--grew from the same seed source, the same soil seed bank, as that of the first crop. Eitherway, this was the second crop--and, perhaps, the second generation of the first crop--of common or bull thistle (a naturalized, Eurasian annual) is as many consecutive growing seasons (parts of three years) on the severely disturbed site of this floodplain forest range.

This same plant was shown again (shortly below) at onset or early stage of senescence.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma. First slide, late May (advanced pre-bloom stage); second slide, early July (peak bloom stage or mid-bloom period).

126. Key to invasive success- Upper flowering shoot (first photograph) and capitula structure and morphology (second photograph) of common or bull thistle. Sexual reproduction (genetic recombination, double fertilization, embryo formation, and fruit production) is essential in biennial plants. Morphology and gross structure of the head of bull thistle was presented in these two slides. The bulbous and spine-covered receptacle of capitula are prominent and add to the blooming beauty of species in the thistle tribe (Cynareae). These spines are actually the sharp tips of phyllaries, involucral bracts of composites (Steyermark, 1963, p.1659), . The inflorescence of composites is a panicle of heads, the branches or banchlets of the panicle have terminal heads (capitula) rather than individual flowers (Smith, 1977, ps. 63). The head or capitulum is actually a shortened , condensed spike (Smith (1977, p. 297) consisting of a disk or receptacle on which individual flowers are inserted (Smith, 1977. p. 291). In Cynareae capitula or heads have only disk flowers (ray flowers bveing absent) which are perfect (Diggs et al., 1999, p.338).

These heads are palatable to many animal species. They are extremely palatable to horses as any cowhand who has ridden through thistles can attest. One simply cannot keep his hoss from snapping off thistle heads. The common name of bull thistle comes from the large size of thistle plants, not because bulls show a strong preference for thistle heads.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma..First slide, late June (early bloom stage or ounset of flowering); second slide early July (peak bloom stage or mid-bloom period).

127. Dying, but with new life- A mature plant of bull thistle entering senescence (death in a biennial plant) while bearing much dry (and live) fruit. This was the same plant shown above as a winter rosette and, then, as a young adult at pre-bloom stage and, again, at full-bloom stage and peak biomass. Although the pattern of growth and development of bull thistle is typically that of a single large shoot, very healthy and robust individuals sometimes produce secondary shoots, or suckers as they are sometimes called, off of the primary shoot which is of embryonic origin. Such was the case with this individual. (These same secondary shoots were also visible in preceding photographs of the mature plant and shown at closer camera range at final maturity in one slide in the next slide-caption set.) Organs such as thistle leaves mature and senesce in chronnological or developmental order with more mature parts of the shoot dying first. Lower leaves and the epidermis of the lower shoot had died in this plant while upper parts of the shoot were still alive. All flowering on this particular plant had been completed and some achenes were being shed from lower heads at this stage of the biennial life cycle.

An Extreme Drought (Palmer Severity Index) was in full effect as can be seen if background trees are compared to slides taken earlier in the spring and summer.

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma..Late July; plant entering senescent stage of phenology (death of shoot of this biennial species).

128. Guarantee of more weeds, sometime- Secondary shoots off of the primary (seed) shoot of a robust plant of bull thistle (first slide) had fallen on the land surface and achenes were being shed for the next generation of this biennial species. This second slide showed heads of bull thistle with ripe and shedding achenes, each fitted with its own "parachute", a pappus of plumose bristles attached at base of achene. (Diiggs et al, 1999, p. 338). Pappus is the group of bristles, awns, or scales at apex of the achene of composites, interpreted as a modified calyx (Diggs et al., 1999, p. 1445).

Such parachute-equipped fruits are borne by wind, water, and unsuspecting animals (including man) to "new land" (disturbed sites) where they can then produce more plumose-adorned achenes to be blown by the wind and other agents of dispersal to start new plants that can produce new crops of achenes and thus perpetuate this r-selected, ruderal race (see above in first photographs and caption of bull thistle).

Modoc Creek floodplain (Modoc Creek bottom), Ottawa County, Oklahoma..Late July; senescence of these shoot organs and shedding of achenes.

129. Black on the bottoms- Black nightshade (Solanum americanum) growing on a cutover, mixed hardwood, floodplain forest in the first spring season following highly destructive highgrade logging. Some widely scattered plants of black nightshade had grown on gravel bars of Modoc Creek and freshly flooded parts of the forest floor prior to logging, but this sparse cover was but a fraction of that resulting from the dense population following logging. Obviously, increased light permitted survival and rank growth of this native forest forb.

The first of these two slides presented a top-down view of a single plant of black nightshade whereas the seocnd slide presented a side-view of two plants. Also present in the first photograph was ground cover (lowest herbaceous layer) of common chickweed along with young plants of mare's tail or horseweed.

Bottomland of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June; various phenological stages from flowering to immature fruit.

130. Black (so-named) shoots on the bottoms- Upper shoot (first slide) and parts of two branches (second slide) of black nightshade on a cutover, mixed hardwood, bottomland forest in the first spring-summer season following highgrade logging the preceding late summer-early autumn. Black nightshade was restricted to gravel bars along the adjoining (fnd frequently flooded) creek and flood-scoured patches on the forest perimeter prior to clearcutting.

Black nightshade is a poisonous, and probably for that reason has earned coverage in publications devoted to range plants. An old-standby reference--even if comparatively brief--for black nightshade was Phillips Petroleum Company (1963, p. 154). Black nightshade--like almost all Solanum species--is a poisonous plant so the old standard of Kingsbury (1964, ps. 291, 292) was recommended along with the much more recent work of Burrows and Tyrl (2001). Also from a poisonous plant perspective see the field guide of Hart et al. (2003, ps. 208-209).

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June (first slide) and Mid-July (second slide).

131. White (and yellow) blooms on black-named plant- Inflorescences composed of serveral tiny flowers on black nightshade that grew prolifically on a local clearcut area of a highgraded mixed hardwood, floodplain forest in the western Ozark (Springfield) Plateau. These plants were grwoing in the first spring-summer season following highly destructive logging (by amateurs) the preceding late summer-early autumn. The ssecond of these two slides also presented part of the abaxial surface of a leaf.

Bottomland of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Mid-July (first slide) and early July (second slide).

132. Not black yet- Immature fruit (berry) on section of branch of black nightshade growing on cutover mixed hardwood floodplain forest in the wesstern Ozark Plateau. Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June; immature fruit stage.

133. Pioneering perennial- Local stand of pokeberry or pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) growing on a clearcut hackberry-American elm-sycamore hardwood bottomland forest in the western Sprinfield Plateau portion of the Ozark Plateau physiographic province. This was the second spring (beginning of the third partial plant-growing season) following destructive high-grade logging--and an open-and-shut case of timber theft--of this climax (or late subclimax) second-growth forest. Most of these pokeberry plants developed from seed in the soil seed bank during the late summer-early autumn following clearcutting (and stealing timber). A few pokeweed shoots may have arisen during that immediate post-logging period from established or already existing plants (ie. following release from shade). Pokeberry plants produce an immense, fleshy, perennial taproot from which new shoots arise each spring. Thus some existing and suppressed (by limited light or competition with trees) pokeberry plants would have been able to exploit any increased light resulting from canopy loss or reduction with high-grading.

Other plant species also covered in this section included annual forb species that could exploite increased light intensity and reduced competition with trees after clearcutting (ie. annual pioneer species or initial seral stage weeds) included common or bull thistle, mare'stail or horseweed, and giant ragweed (these colonizing species along with other herbaceous pioneers like black nightshade were also covered in this section).

Whereas most colonizing--generally regarded as weedy--forb species on this clearcut were annuals, pokeweed is a pioneering or colonizing perennial forb. These same species as groups (pioneering community, beginning assembly, or colonizing suit of successional plants) develop as the first seral stage of secondary plant succession on other forms of "go-back ground" such as abandoned farmland (known as old fields in the plant succession literature). Pokeweed is not limited to distrbed habitats , but it does prefer such environments (Steyermark, 1963, p. 630; Tyrl et al., 2001, p. 858; Tyrl et al., 2008, p. 415). One thing in common to all these colonizing species is the large size of shoots. Plants isn this photograph were generally five to almost seven foot in height.

These pokeberry plants were severely drought-stressed in the second consecutive year of Extreme to Extraordinary Drought (on Palmer Index), but they produced an abundant fruit/seed crop (next slides, please...).

Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; open flowers through green fruit to ripe fruit stage as shown immediately below.

134. Unappreciated (and drought-stressed) beauty- Flowering and fruit-bearing branches of pokeberry on a clearcut mixed hardwood floodplain forest in the western Springfield Plateau during second full plant-growing season following devestating high-grade logging (and timber theft at that). These organs were on one of the same plants included in the immediately preceding photograph. These plants were drought-stressed being in the second consecutive year of Extreme to Extraordinary Drought, and they still reproduced sexually.

The inflorescence of "poke" is regarded as a drooping raceme with a number of perfect flowers (Tyrl et a., 2001, p. 857) Fruit of pokeberry is a berry typically consisting of ten carpels with one seed per carpel (Diggs et al, 1999, p. 882).

Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; all stages of fruit development from open flowers to ripe fruit (shown in more detail in next slide-caption set).

135. Several stages- Part of a single raceme with ripe berries along with parts of two racemes with flowers (first slide) and flowers (second slide) of pokeberry produced on a clearcut portion of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest.

The berries of pokeberry are not--strictly speaking--poisonous (at least not highly so), but consumption of them has caused upset stomachs and diarrea. It is not claer whether this is due to the fruit per se or more a function of excess consumption or other variables. The description and warning regarding "poke" by Diggs et al. (999, ps. 881-882), a rather melodramatic presentation n in this author's view, clearly labeled "poke" as a toxic plant that "should not be handled except with gloves". While caution is always in order regarding consumption of nondomesticated plants the dire warning of Diggs et al. (1999, p. 882) did not jibe with the more objective, explicit, and detailed analysis in Toxic Plants of North America (Tyrl, 2001, ps. 857-861), the encyclopedia of North American poisonous plants. There are several toxins in pokeweed including saponins and oxalates in the shoots and a mitogen in the berries. Traditionallly the roots have been regarded as the most toxic part of pokeberry.

The main food use made of "poke" is of the young shoots as potherb, but jams and jellies are made from the berries after seeds have been removed (Steyermark, 1963, p. 630; Tyrl et al., 2001 p. 858). This author has enjoyed poke greens for years, but always boils them two to three times being sure to pour off the water and us freesh water each boiling. Obviously birds and mammals of many species eat the berries (and in the process propagate pokeweed by dispersing the seed). Grazing mammals from cattle to deer infrequently eat upper parts of shoots (Tyrl et al., 2008. p. 415), but in the current author's observations since boyhood and over a half century animals make comparatively little use of the essentially unpalatable pokeweed herbage. Diggs et al. (1999, p. 882) presented a number of uses made of pokeberry by Indians and more recent arrivals, both black and white folk.

In recent years native plant fanciers have come to appreciate the value of pokeberry as an attractive (and very hardy) wildflower tht invokes favorable comment from those seeing it for the first time, especially those not raised with a prejudice of pokeweed as a "damn weed".

Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; all stages of fruit development from open flowers to ripe berries.

136. Horsed by deer- Local stand of common horseweed or mare's tail growing on a clearcut mixed hardwood bottomland forest and that had been grazed--fairly heavily--by white-tailed deer. Almost all horseweed shoots had their upper portions removed by deer. Removal of apical meristems of these deer-defoliated shoots resulted in initiation of new shoots growing from axils of leaves (axillary areas) immediately below or, in some instances, two leaves below the eaten-off portion.

This phenomenon was shown in more detail (at closer distance) in the next slide-caption set.

Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late July; pre-bloom stage (of the few unbrowsed shoots).

137. Deered-off- Two successively closer views of shoots of mare'stail or common horseweed that had been grazed by white-tailed deer to such degree of use that apical buds (apical meristems) of the primary (central) shoot had been removed resulting in loss of apical dominance and subsequent development of new shoots arising from axils of leaves that subtended the point of defoliation. In some instances the (these) secondary or regrowth shoot(s) was from the first leaf or, in some cases, the second leaf below the severed shoots.

The first of these two slides was of two defoliated (top-grazed, in these instances) horseweed plants. The larger of these two plants (the one on the right) had lateral (secondary) shoots, which previously had been suppressed by apical dominance by the primary (central) shoot, which had not yet been grazed by deer. These lateral (secondary) shoots were becoming the now-dominant shoots (apparently shared apical dominance by several of these secondary shoots) following removal of the previously dominant primary shoot. The smaller plant (one on the left) had fewer lateral (secondary) shoots that were located much farther below (lower down) on the defoliated primary or central--and, formerly, dominant--shoot. These lower lateral (secondary) shoots on the smaller plant had not grown or progressed in development as much following release from apical dominance as had larger, higher-up-on-the-primary-shoot, lateral (secondary) shoots of the larger plant.

The second photograph was of repeated or secondary defoliation. This was the shoot "scene" after deer returned to this feeding station and fed on the released secondary or lateral (and, then, dominant) shoots. In other words, following removal of the apical meristem of the central or primary shoot (elimination of original or pirmary apical dominance) secondary or lateral shoots assumed dominance and developed/grew so that they were now apically dominant. These now-dominant lateral shoots were in turn defoliated like the previous dominant primary (central) shoot. This poor plant "could'nt win for losing".

In this second slide, the originally apically dominant--the primary or central--shoot (the first one to be removed by deer) was the one farthest to the right and with the brown- to black-colored calloused "stump" (the point at which deer removed this shoot). Regrowth following the first defoliation (removal of dominant primary shoot) resulted in three new shoots (secondary or lateral shoots) that originated from meristematic tissue in leaf axils. (This was probably intercalary meristem or meristematic tissue.) Then white-tailed deer "returned to the scene of the crime" and fed on these three new shoots. This plant regrowth (the three secondary shoots that developed after loss--or, actually, relocation of apical dominance) were undoubtedly more nutritious, more palatable than ungrazed plant tissue.

Meanwhile (all the time this feeding-regrowth saga was taking plaace) a few ungrazed plants of mare'stail or common horseweed continued to grow under original apical dominance by the primary shoot (the one that originated from the embryo). These ungrazed individuals grew until the apical bud (apical meristem) was higher than deer could reach so that the original, primary, seminal shoot progressed to the sexually reproductive (flowering) stage and produced much fruit (plumose-fitted achenes). These ungrazed plants became wolf plants while the grazed plants were forage plants. This was either luck, chance, probability, etc. or, alternatively (yet it amounted to the same thing) natural selection for the genotype that outgrew the deer. Of course, the deer eventually missed enough shoots on grazed plants that even the forage individuals produced some (quite a few) achenes and--given that they reproduced their kind--were also survivors in the strict meaning of Darwin's survival of the fittest.

Another Range Management lesson from master teacher, Mother Nature.

Modoc Creek bottoms, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; pre-bloom stage (of the few unbrowsed shoots).

Clearcutting (or, more precisely, "cut-and-run" deforestation) of the mixed hardwood bottomland forest range provided a new environment (and an improved habitat at that) for some climax plants as well as for pioneering or later seral plant species. In addition to improving local habitats for colonizing range plant species (eg. common chickweed, common or bull thistle, black nightshade, pokeberry or pokeweed, beefstake plant, and mare'stail or horseweed), deforestation created more favorable growing conditions for some advanced seral and even dominant climax species. Logging removed much--locally, most to even all--of the forest canopy and, in the words of pioneer loggers, "let light in the swamp". Removal of tree crowns "opened up" the remaining forest vegetation to sunlight so that this man-modified forest ecosystem--the cut-over forest--had more solar radiation reaching the floor of what had beeen a subclimax to early stage climax forest.

Overlogging (= exceeding sustained yield ) or, in some local areas, complete deforestation resulted in an "old field" stage of the forest sere. Such removal of existing forest vegetation constituted the process and the corresponding successional stage known by the Clementsian term, nudation or denudation ,(Clements,1916, p. 4). Nudation is the leaving of a sere bare by one or more initial cuuses (Clements, 1916, ps. 33-62; Weaver and Clements, 1938, ps.114-115). Climax grasses--both dominant and associate species--were some of direct "beneficiaries" of this humanly created "new land" (the forest sere set back largely to bare ground). The overall (forest-wide) most abundant climax grasses were silky wildrye and Canada wildrye, but these two Elymus species were less common and had less cover on parts of the clearcut that had been most severely disturbed. On such drastically degraded areas pioneering forb species were overwhelming dominant. though a number of plants of native (and climax or decreaser species) grasses had survived and, again, even benefitted from the disturbance. Three of the climax (and decreaser) grass species that seemed to benefit most from forest nudation were featured in the next section.

138. White but green- Large individual plant of whitegrass (Leersia virginica) growing on a clearcut of mixed hardwood bottomland forest range in the western Ozark Highlands (Springfield Plateau). Leersia species are in the rice subfamily (Oryzoideae) of Gramineae. The habit of whitegrass could be described as sprawling, broadly spreading, or "rambling" though it is not so much a sod-forming grass as some species in other subfamilies such as Eragrostoideae. Whitegrass is rhizomatous. This particular plant had grown to comparatively large size (14 feet across) In the understorey of a mixed hardwood bottomland forest two years after clearcutting (explotiative--and illegal--deforestation) by inexperienced timber theives as was explained above. This specimen was growing in close proximity to two other climax (decreaser) grass species: 1) stout woodreed (Cinna arundinacea) and 2) woodland bluegrass (Poa sylvestris).

There are two Leersia species native to the Ozark Plateau Region. Rice cutgrass (L. oryzoides) is the other species. A few isolated plants of both of these Leersia species were growing on the floodplain of an Ozark stream in the Springfield Plateau portion of the Ozark Plateau physiographic province. Whitegrass, a mesophytic species, grew farther up on the first terrace of the stream (as in these two slides) whereas rice cutgrass grew directly in the channel and in the immediate riparian zone of the stream.

Location note: Given the occurrence (different habitats) of the two Leersia species, the mesiphytic L. virginica, whitegrass, was presented here whereas the hydrophytic L. oxyzoides, rice cutgrass, was included below in this same chapter with an example of the white ash-sycamore wet bottomlnad forest.that had developed along a typical Ozark Plateau spring.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; anthesis and peak biomass of shoots.

139. Green inside white- Interior of the large sprawling plant of whitegrass that was introduced in the two immediately preceding photographs. The wide-spreading habit of whitegrass is a function of asexual shoot reproduction from rhizomes combined with a decumbent form of these shoots. The decumbent and zig-zag pattern of whitegrass shoots was shown in the next two slides.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; anthesis and peak biomass of shoots.

140. Swollen grass joints- Phytomers--the node-internode unit of grass shoots-- (first slide) and two large, rounded nodes (second slide) of whitegrass growing in the understorey of a local clearing created by deforestation of a mixed hardwood bootmland forest in the western Ozark Plateau. The .

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; peak shoot-development stage.

141. Samples of slender panicles- The whitegrass inflorescence is a few-branched panicle with tiny spikelets each of which has only one floret (see next slide-caption set). The three panicles presented here were at peak anthesis (the phenological stage this photographer always tried to capture). The bright, white stigmas of the extremely small florets give the flower cluster a pale to whitish appearance which may well be the basis of the common name, whitegrass. This member of the rice tribe (Oryzeae) produces caryopses with viable seed so that sexual as well as asexual (rhizomal) reproduction occurs in this interesting range plant.

The last two slides showed the flag leaf (the leaf subtending the inflorescence). Leaves of whitegrass are relatively broad (leaf width in relation to leaf length).

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; anthesis.

142. Tiny flowers in a clearing- Sequence of photographs showing panicle with spikelets (first slide) and closer-in views of spikelets (second and third slide)-- with both stamens and stigmas exerted--in whitegrass. These organs were on the same large plant that introduced the treatment of this species (see above). There is one floret per spikelet in whitegrass and only two stamens per flower. This is "doubley" unusual because most florets of the Gramineae have three stamens whereas domestic rice (Oryza sativa), which is in the Oryzeae (rice tribe) with Leersia species, has six stamens per floret.

The tiny spikelets/florets of Leersia virginica are so small that microphotography is required to show them in detail. The three photographs in this set were taken with a macrolense with the third slide having been taken with an extension ring so that it is life size (1:1 scale) whereas the second slide was half life size (1:2 scale). These shots were taken hand-held (1/15 second) using natural light so they were not the best, but radiation of their natural environment was kept in photographs.

Floodplain of Modoc Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late June; anthesis.

143. Favored by destruction- An extremely large plant of woodreed grass or stout woodreed (Cina arundinacea) growing on a clearcut mixed hardwood bottomland forest in the western Sprinfield Plateau portion of the Ozark Plateau physiographic province. This was the second spring (beginning of the third partial grass-growing season) following devestating high-grade logging of this climax (or late subclimax) second-growth forest. (Details of this cut-and-run--literally, as tree cutters were timber theives--logging were presented at beginnning of this section.)

This plant (and a few others of this species) was growing in association with typical pioneer or colonizing plant species such as common or bull thistle, mare's tail or horseweed, common chickweed, pokeweed or pokeberry, and black nightshade, examples of all of which were shown above, as well as climax perennials including whitegrass (presented immediately above) and woodland bluegrass (presented immediately below). This specimen (geanetic individual or genotype) was the largest individual ever seen by the author. It exceeded seven feet in height and had an amazing number of shoots (second of these two slides) many of which had developed into sexual shoots (first slide). This individual plant had an unusual color (in this author's observations) being a light bright green rather than the more typical gre(a)y color. Although stout wood-reed has a primarily cespitose habit (appearing mostly as a bunchgrass) it does have short, thick rhizomes so that it produces (and assexually reproduces through) both intravaginal ahoots (tillers) and intervaginal shoots ( rhizomes).

Woodreed grass is in the oat tribe (Aveneae) so that "officially" it is a cool-season grass. However, in the western Ozark Region, where it is most commonly found in the understorey of oak-hickory forest or mixed tree species bottomland forest, woodreed grass typically does not flower unto mid to late summer instead of in the spring as this plant had done. In forest understorey habitats woodreed grass remains green yearlong (even to temperatures -20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit), at least in the western Ozark Plateau and adjoining Osage Plains-Cherokee Prairie of the Central Lowlands Region. It seems that it requires the whole year for woodreed grass to complete its annual growing cycle when it is an understorey species.

Plants of woodreed grass growing on the clearing or clearcut fetured here appparently benefitted from increased radiation available with complete loss of forest canopy. These plants grew to much smaller size and produced smaller grain yields prior to high-grade clearcutting.

The herbaceous vine intertwined with this specimen was bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus). Most of the neighboring plants were pokeberry which, as noted previously, benefitted tremendously from forest devastation. Pokeweed was one of the perennial pioneers on this sere now undergoing secondary plant succession. Students should note that deforestation did not eliminate all perennial species that existed in the forest understorey prior to high-grade logging. In fact (and again) this severe human disturbance created a much more favorable for some of the native climax species such as woodreed grass and whitegrass.

Stout woodreed provides "highly palatable forage" but is not "...usually not abundant enough to be of much importance" (Hitchcock and Chase, 1950, p. 355). This more common situation not withstanding, woodreed grass does sometimes grow in large local populations that contribute substantially to diets of grazers. The journal of Schoolcraft (1821)--available as Rafferty (1996)--indicated that in frontier days there were large streatches of stout woodreed growing along rivers throughout the Ozark Plateau.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; peak shoot biomas, grain-ripe/grain shatter phenological stage.

Location note: other examples of woodreed grass were given in Range Types of North America in the chapter, Central and Southern Forest-I and Oak-Hickory Forest-I. These examples presented the yearlong growth cycle and winter foliage growth of woodreed grass.

144. Shoot, more details- Phytomers (first slide) and close-up of node-internode area (second slide) of woodreed grass growing on a clearcun mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Features shown on a shoot at peak development and bearing panicles loaded with fruit-filled florets.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; peak shoot biomas stage of development/growth.

145. Panicle particulars- Two examples of entire--and rather small- panicles (first and second slide) and a single compound branch off of one large panicle (third slide) of woodreed grass growing on a clearing in a mixed hardwood floodplain forest. Pattern and arrangement of numerous spikelets on panicle branches were clearly visible.

The Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; grain-ripe/grain shatter phenological stage.

146. Fruitful panicle branches-Terminal portions of panicle branches that bore numerous spikelets of woodreed grass. These organs had been produced by the large plant seen at introduction of this species. There is one (rarely two and one of these may be rudimentary) floret(s) per spikelet in stout woodreed (Hitchcock and Chase, 1950, p. 355; Barkworth et al., 2007, p. 773-774).

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; grain-ripe/grain shatter phenological stage.

147. Closer inspection- Spikelets of woodreed grass shown at life-size scale (1:1). These floral units were closer views of spikelets shown in the immediately preceding two photographs. They were produced by the large plant introduced above. Two unusual features of woodreed grass are that 1) it has only one stamen per floret (floret) in contrast to three stamen as in most festucoid (and panicoid, eragrostoid) grasses and 2) spikelets disarticulate below the glumes (ie. glumes are not persistent on the panicle). This latter feature is in marked distinction from most other members of the Aveneae, oat tribe.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; grain-ripe/grain shatter phenological stage.

148. Getting ready for the next year- Autumn/winter shoots of the same plant of stout woodreed that served as the example of this species immediately above. These "next year's" (current season's) shoots were shown seven months after the above photographs of the mature plant during the preceding growing season (previous year). Most of the forb foliage was the naturalized Eurasian mint, dead nettle (Lamium purpurea). There was slso some common chickweed (Stellaria media), another Eurasian, weedy annual. The dead vine spreading horizontially across the base of the woodreed was that of the bur cucumber shown above in the live state.

The naturalized, Eurasian, annual weeds benefitted from increased light (and, probably, greater soil moisture) on this clearcut. No matter how destructive of the forest community cataclasmic catastrophes--natural or human-induced--happen to be, they always benefit some species at expense of, or due to loss of, other species.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December; early shoot development stage of phenology.

149. Clearcut survivor- A plant of woodland bluegrass (Poa sylvestris) on a clearcut or clearing of a nearly climax, second-growth, mixed hardwood floodplain forest in the western Springfield Plateau portion of the Ozark Plateau physiographic province. This plant was at peak growth and development in the second year (second full-growing season; third year of a partial growing season) following high-grade logging (in effect, forest destruction). The sere of this forest range had been set back to earliest seral stage of secondary plant succession (ie. pioneer or colonization state of succession). As explained and described previously, the current dominant plants were pioneering species including such forbs as mare'stail or horseweed (native annual composite), common or bull thistle (Eurasian biennial composite), common chickweed (Eurasian annual), beefstake plant (another exotic annual), and poleweed or pokeberry (native perennial).

An amazing number of plants of climax grass species that had been in the forest prior to logging had not only survived but actually thrived following deforestation (presumedly from increased light on the [former] forest floor and, perhaps, more available water and/or other resources). Woodland bluegrass was one of these native, climax grasses. The specimen presented here was growing in close proximity to two other climax (decreaser) grass species: 1) stout woodreed and 2) woodland bluegrass. Examples both of these native, cool-season, perennial festucoid (pooid) grasses were presented immediately above.

Woodland bluegrass has some of the largest plants of any Poa species indigenous to the Ozark Plateau Region. The plant presented here was roughly two and a half feet tall. Woodland bluegrass is strictly a cespitose species as readily seen in the specimen presented here. Woodland bluegrass had in common with neighboring stout woodreed and whitegrass a sporadic and widely scattered distribution in this bottomland forest. Together with silky and Canada wildryes and several Carex species, which were included variously throughout this chapter, woodland bluegrass provided decent quantities of palatable, nutritious forage for grazing animals.

This plant was near end of its annual growth cycle being at at peak shoot development and mximum biomass. Panicles (at least upper portions of them) with their widely spaced branches had died (or were in process of doing so) and had already turned amber, the color at early senescence. Some spikelets had already shed, but most caryopses were still nearing maturity (next slides).

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; primarily grain-ripening to early grain-ripe phenological stages.

150. Bluegrass grain in floodplain woodland- Branch of inflorescence with three spikelets (first slide) and spikelets with grain-filled florets (second slide) of woodland bluegrass. These organs were on the plant seen in the two immediately preceding slides. Spikelets lying on wood (second slide) were presented at life-size (1:1) scale. Maturity of caryopses varied from late-milk to early soft-dought stage up to early hard-dough stage. (Some of the upper spikelets of the panicle had already shed: grasses are determinate in flowering sequence.)

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; late milk to early grain-ripening to early grain-ripe phenological stages.

151. Sister species- Two (opposite) views of a "photoplot" of range vegetation at edge of a clearcut in a mixed hardwood bottomland forest. Featured plants were one plant each of Canada or nodding wildrye and of silky or downy wildrye which were left and right, respectively, in first slide and right and left, respectively, in the second slide. One big seedling or small sapling of sugar maple at right margin of first slide and left margin of second slide. One sapling of sugar maple in background of first slide. A few plants of pokeweed or pokeberry, especially in first photograph. Several plants of beefstake plant and stinging wood neddle.

This was the recovering (successional) forest vegetation in late spring of the third growing season for cool-season plants like the festucoid perennial grasses. Sugar maple is one of the most--if not, the most--tolerant tree species in this part of the Ozark Plateau. Although sugar maple was present in the climax forest of this area and in this particular forest stand, it was a minor species compared to the climax dominants of hackberry, American elm, and slippery or red elm. Associate tree species inclucded box elder, black walnut, white ash, northern red oak, and sycamore. Sycamore and eastern cottonwood (only a few old individuals) were pioneer species that persisted into the climax forest.

The two Elymus species, both of which are climax (decreaser) species, were some of the major herbaceous plants in the subclimax forest before logging and in the first plant community of the cut-over forest. These species quite frequently grew immediately next to each other as shown in these two slides. The author found instances where shoots of plants of the two species laid against each other (shoots of one plant lying over inside shoots of another plant of the other species). The two Elymus species are conspicuously distinctive from each other, especially when both have fully developed spikes. Shoots of silky wildrye are almost always taller than those of nodding wildrye for instance. It is remarkable that plants of these two species frequently grown "side-by-side" in intermixed populations. This was the typical situation in the floodplain mixed hardwood forest described in this section. Hybridization within these Elymus species does occur and integrading among related Elymus species has been well-documented (Barkworth et al., 2007, ps. 302-305). This author never found any specimens of E. canadensis or E. villosus that appeared to be intergrade or intermediate forms. All plants found were distinctly one or the other species. The logical (biological) explanation of this phenomenon was simply that flowering (anthesis) of the two species does not overlap. Plants of E. canadensis flower a full month (or more) before those of E. villosus at this location and adjoining areas of the western Springfield Plateau (field observations, R.E. Rosiere). Barkworth (2007, ps. 302, 303) confirmed this time separation of anthesis in these two spatially co-existing species; although there was some slight overlap of reported time ranges in anthesis of the two. In this bottomland forest range there was no opportunity for pollen exchange between Canada wildrye and silky wildrye, at least not during the years of observation by this rangeman.

There was onemajor Range Ecology (plant succession) lesson shown in this "photoplot" of the "new land", "go-back ground", or "old field" of this devestated or cut-over forest (improper harvest in the form of high-grading, clearly [pun intended] cut-and-run logging). The seral plant community present immediately after high-grading and into the second full- (third partial-) growing season was a combination of pioneering or colonizing annual forbs (both natives like mare'stail or horseweed and exotics like beefstake plant), colonizing perennials (the native pokeberry), and climax perennials with these latter including both herbaceous (two Elymus species) and woody species (sugar maple). The most severe form of disturbance (excepting bulldozing and converting the former forest into a farm field) did not set the sere back to "ground zero" Instead, this nudation resulted in a botanically diverse plant community that included some of the same plant species that were dominants (or, in instance of sugar maple, at least important indicator species) of the potential natural (climax) vegetation.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; peak shoot biomass.

152. Comely producer- Spike with flag leaf (first slide) and spikelets on that spike (second slide) of silky wildrye on edge of a claercut mixed hardwood bottomland forest. This spike was on the plant of silky wildrye introduced in the two photographs in the immediately preceding slide-caption set.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late May; peak anthesis.

153. A tree that won't stay down- Three-slide set showing coppicing of black walnut in late spring after the original genetic individual had been felled in the previous late summer-early autumn. This tree was one of several felled in a mixed hardwood forest that developed on the floodplain of Modoc Creek in the western Ozark Plateau. Some of the smaller--and, presumedly, younger--walnut trees sprouted from their stumps, the phenomenon known generally as coppicing.

This stump produced these coppice shoots (known variously as stool shoots, stump sprouts, resprouts) late in the preceding autumn. The shoots managed to survive an extremely cold winter (temperatures went as low as -20 degrees fahrenheit) and had made this much growth by late in the following spring. Stool is a living stump capable of coppicing (producing shoots) (Helms, 1998).

All the walnut logs taken from this forest were stolen off of a neighbor's land which butted against the property woodcutters were authorized to log, and the walnuts were all improperly felled either resulting in stump pull and/or destruction of nearby younger walnut trees. The absentee owner of the logged walnuts was clueless about the timber theft.

Three-trunked tree immediately behind the coppicing black walnut was white ash. This multi-trunk feature resulted from stum sprouting (coppicing) the last time this white ash tree was felled. (Reckon that was illegal logging, too?) There was some Virginia creeper (Pathenocissus quinquefolia) and pokeweed or pokeberry growing by the walnut sprouts.

Modoc Creek floodplain, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Early June; late spring.

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