Sumter National Forest Final Report - NatureServe

Federal Lands: DOD (Arnold, Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart); DOE (Savannah River Site); USFS (Angelina,Bankhead?, Bienville, Cherokee, Conecuh, Croatan, Davy Crockett, De Soto, Delta, Francis Marion, Holly Springs, Kisatchie, LandBetween the Lakes, Oconee, Ouachita, Ozark, Sabine NF, Sam Houston, St. Francis?, Sumter, Talladega, Tombigbee, Tuskegee);USFWS (Eufaula)ALLIANCE SOURCESReferences: Eyre 1980, Farnum et al. 1983, Hoagland 1998a, Hunter 1990, Moorhead et al. 1998, Ursic 1963I.A.8.C.X. PINUS PALUSTRIS PLANTED FOREST ALLIANCE (A.96)LONGLEAF PINE PLANTED FOREST ALLIANCEALLIANCE CONCEPTSummary: This alliance includes young, monospecific plantation stands of Pinus palustris. These are cultivated forests which do notrepresent or approximate natural or near-natural vegetation structure. They are maintained as plantations for the harvest of forestproducts (usually poletimber). The core concept of these stands are those which are mechanically planted to dense, often perfect rowsof planted Pinus palustris or otherwise dense, young stands which are managed and maintained for the extraction of forest products.Stands are typically established with mechanical planting, but may also be established through other means. In most cases these standssupport almost no other tree species in the overstory, and typically very little understory. This alliance rarely exceeds 20-40 years ofage on most timberlands. Excluded from this alliance are areas where longleaf pine has been planted in ways that maintain naturalground layer components (such as hand planting with no mechanical site preparation), as well as areas which originated asmechanically planted, dense stands but which have been thinned and burned or have "broken up" with age allowing for restoration ofsome natural ground cover components and a canopy structure approximating that of natural longleaf pine communities. Most standsin this alliance are created after clear-cutting of natural stands and mechanical site preparation to reduce or eliminate competition forplanted pine seedlings. Dense planting in rows, if successful, tends to result in nearly complete canopy closure which persists until thestand has been "thinned" twice, at which time some openings in the canopy are created which may allow some sunlight to the groundlayer. Herbaceous ground cover of any kind tends to be sparse due to reduction during site preparation, the typically dense canopycover, and to the fact that many young plantations are infrequently burned at best. Moreover, `natural' ground layer vegetation isespecially lacking. In North and South Carolina, pinestraw is commonly harvested from these forests, often further damaging theground cover.Related Concepts:• Longleaf Pine: 70 (Eyre 1980) IClassification Comments: The core concept of these stands are those which are mechanically planted to dense, often perfect rows ofplanted Pinus palustris or otherwise dense, young stands which are managed and maintained for the extraction of forest products.Stands are typically established with mechanical planting, but may also be established through other means. Excluded from thisalliance are areas where longleaf pine has been planted in ways that maintain natural ground layer components (such as hand plantingwith no mechanical site preparation), as well as areas which originated as mechanically planted, dense stands but which have beenthinned and burned or have "broken up" with age allowing for restoration of some natural ground cover components and a canopystructure approximating that of natural longleaf pine communities.ALLIANCE DISTRIBUTIONRange: This alliance is found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.Subnations: AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TXTNC Ecoregions: 40:C, 41:C, 43:P, 50:P, 53:C, 55:P, 56:P, 57:PUSFS Ecoregions: 231Ca:PPP, 231Cd:PPP, 232Bq:CCC, 232Br:CCC, 232Ca:CCC, 232Cb:CCC, 232F:CCFederal Lands: DOD (Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart); DOE (Savannah River Site); USFS (Angelina,Apalachicola, Bankhead?, Croatan?, Francis Marion, Kisatchie, Ocala?, Osceola, Sabine NF, Sumter?, Talladega?, Tuskegee?)ALLIANCE SOURCESReferences: Eyre 1980I.A.8.N.b. Rounded-crowned temperate or subpolar needle-leaved evergreen forestI.A.8.N.B. PINUS STROBUS - TSUGA CANADENSIS FOREST ALLIANCE (A.127)EASTERN WHITE PINE - EASTERN HEMLOCK FOREST ALLIANCEALLIANCE CONCEPTSummary: Forests codominated by Pinus strobus and Tsuga canadensis occurring from eastern Wisconsin and the upper peninsulaof Michigan to eastern Pennsylvania and Maine, south through the Appalachians to northern Georgia and South Carolina. Isolatedoccurrences could potentially occur in the Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky and Tennessee. Generally, Tsuga canadensis and Pinusstrobus are codominant, but other common associates can include Fagus grandifolia, Acer rubrum, Betula lenta, Betulaalleghaniensis, Quercus rubra. Picea rubens is often a component in the northeastern part of range, while Liriodendron tulipifera andBetula lenta are the common associates in the southern Appalachians. Typical shrubs/saplings include Acer spicatum, HamamelisVegetation of Sumter National Forest April 30 20042Copyright © 2004 NatureServe