United States Department of Agriculture Ozark-Ouachita Forest Service Highlands Assessment Southern Research Station General Technical Terrestrial Vegetation and Wildlife Report SRS-35 REPORT 5 OF 5 Cover photo: Kings Bluff in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Photo by A.C. Haralson, Arkansas Department of Parks and Recreation, Little Rock, AR. Natural resource specialists and research scientists worked together to produce the five General Technical Reports that comprise the Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment: • Summary Report • Air Quality • Aquatic Conditions • Social and Economic Conditions • Terrestrial Vegetation and Wildlife For information regarding how to obtain these Assessment documents, please contact: USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 1270, Hot Springs, AR 71902 or telephone 501-321-5202. To limit publication costs, few color maps and figures were used in the Assessment reports. For color versions of some of the Assessment figures and supplemental material, please see the Assessment’s home page on the Internet at <http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ooha/welcome.htm>. The Assessment reports will be online for about 2 years after the date on this publication; then they will be archived. Please note: When “authors” are agency or business names, most are abbreviated to save space in the citations of the body of the report. The “References” at the end of the report contain both the full name and abbreviations. Because abbreviations sometimes are not in the same alphabetical order as the refer- ences, for clarifications of abbreviations, consult the “Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms.” The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the readers. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the USDA Forest Service. December 1999 Southern Research Station P.O. Box 2680 Asheville, North Carolina 28802 Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment: Terrestrial Vegetation and Wildlife Eastern Region U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Milwaukee, WI North Central Research Station U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service St. Paul, MN Southern Region U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Atlanta, GA Southern Research Station U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Asheville, NC Contents Page Page Preface . v Forest Cover in the Highlands Based on FIA Data . 22 Contributors to This Report . vi Vegetation Patterns based on AVHRR Data . 49 Trends in Vegetation Cover . 55 Acknowledgments. ix Data Sources and Methods of Analysis . 55 Patterns and Trends . 56 Executive Summary . xi Implications and Opportunities . 65 Old Growth . 66 Chapter 1: Ecological Units Data Sources . 66 of the Highlands . 1 Patterns and Trends . 66 Implications and Opportunities . 68 Key Findings . 1 Rare Communities . 70 The Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Data Sources . 70 Assessment Area . 1 Patterns and Trends . 70 Data Sources . 2 Implications and Opportunities . 70 Ecological Units . 3 Ozark Highlands Section (222A) . 3 Chapter 4: Silvicultural Practices . 73 Boston Mountains Section (M222A) . 4 Arkansas Valley Section (231G) . 5 Key Findings . 73 Ouachita Mountains Section (M231A) . 5 Silvicultural Systems . 74 Ecological Basis Silvicultural Practices . 74 Chapter 2: Prehistoric and Historic Silvicultural Systems and Reproduction Ecological Changes . 7 Cutting Methods . 75 Regeneration . 77 Key Findings . 7 Site Preparation . 79 Data Sources . 8 Intermediate Treatments . 80 Patterns and Trends . 9 Silvicultural Practices for Oak-Hickory Major Changes in Vegetation . 9 Stands in the Assessment Area . 83 Changes in Wildlife and Plant Populations . 9 Even-aged Reproduction Cutting Methods . 84 Historic Changes by Ecological Section . 10 Uneven-aged Reproduction Cutting Effects of Disturbance on Methods . 86 Highlands Ecosystems. 14 Silvicultural Practices for Shortleaf Pine Climatic Disturbance Factors . 14 Stands in the Assessment Area . 88 Biotic Disturbance Factors . 18 Even-aged Reproduction Cutting Methods . 88 Implications and Opportunities . 19 Uneven-aged Reproduction Cutting Methods . 91 Chapter 3: Status and Trends of Vegetation . 21 Thinning . 92 Silvicultural Practices on the Highlands’ Key Findings . 21 National Forests. 93 Vegetation Cover . 21 Data Sources . 93 A Comparison of the Highlands to Patterns and Trends . 94 Surrounding Ecoregions . 21 Implications and Opportunities . 102 iii Page Page Chapter 5: Plant and Animal Populations . 103 Exotic Diseases . 150 Data Sources . 150 Key Findings . 103 Patterns and Trends . 150 Species with Viability Concerns . 103 Native Insect Threats . 155 Global and State Ranks . 103 Data Sources . 155 Data Sources . 104 Patterns and Trends . 155 Patterns and Trends . 104 Native Tree Diseases . 159 Implications and Opportunities . 108 Data Sources . 159 Federally Listed Threatened and Patterns and Trends . 159 Endangered Species . 108 Invasive Nonnative Flowering Plants . 161 Game Species . 109 Data Sources . 161 Data Sources . 109 Patterns and Trends . 161 Patterns and Trends . 110 Implications and Opportunities . 163 Implications and Opportunities . 116 Invasive Nonnative Vertebrates . 164 Neotropical Migratory and Resident Birds . 118 Data Sources . 164 Data Sources and Methods of Analysis . 118 Patterns and Trends . 164 Patterns and Trends . 121 Implications and Opportunities . 165 Implications and Opportunities . 125 Cave Animals . 125 References . 167 Data Sources . 126 Patterns and Trends . 126 Glossary of Terms . 186 Implications and Opportunities . 127 Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms . 193 Chapter 6: Biological Threats to Forest Resources . 147 List of Tables . 194 Key Findings . 147 Invasive Nonnative Pests . 147 List of Figures . 196 Data Sources . 147 Patterns and Trends . 147 iv Preface Change is evident across the Ozark and Ouachita Highlands. Whether paying attention to State and regional news, studying statistical patterns and trends, or driving through the Highlands, one cannot escape signs that growth may be putting strains on the area’s natural resources and human communities. How people regard these changes varies widely, however, as does access to reliable information that might help them assess the significance of what is happening in the Highlands. The Assessment reports provide windows to a wealth of such information. This report (Terrestrial Vegetation and Wildlife) is one of five that document the results of the Ozark- Ouachita Highlands Assessment. Federal and State natural resource agency employees and university and other cooperators worked together to produce the four technical reports that examine air quality; aquatic conditions; social and economic conditions; and terrestrial conditions (the topic of the present volume). Dozens of experts in various fields provided technical reviews. Other citizens were involved in working meetings and supplied valuable ideas and information during the process. The Summary Report provides an overview of the key findings presented in the four technical reports. Data sources, methods of analysis, findings, discussion of implications, and links to dozens of additional sources of information are discussed in more detail in the other reports. The USDA Forest Service initiated the Assessment and worked with other agencies to develop a synthesis of the best information available on conditions and trends in the Ozark-Ouachita Highlands. Assessment reports emphasize those conditions and trends most likely to have some bearing on the future management of the region’s three national forests—the Mark Twain, Ouachita, and Ozark-St. Francis. People who are interested in the future of the region’s other public lands and waters or of this remarkable region as a whole should also find the reports valuable. No specific statutory requirement led to the Assessment. However, data and findings assembled in the reports will provide some of the information relevant for an evaluation of possible changes in the land and resource management plans of the Highland’s three national forests. The National Forest Management Act directs the Forest Service to revise such management plans every 10 to 15 years, which means that the national forests of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma should have revised plans in the year 2001. Due to restrictions in the appropriations bills that provide funding for the Forest Service, however, it is uncertain when these revisions can begin. The charter for the Ozark-Ouachita Highlands Assessment established a team structure and listed tentative questions that the teams would address. Assembled in mid-1996, the Terrestrial, Aquatic and Atmospheric, and Human Dimensions (Social-Economic) Teams soon refined and condensed these questions and then gathered and evaluated vast quantities of information. They drafted their key findings in late 1997 and refined them several times through mid-1999. In addition to offering relevant data and key findings in the reports, the authors discuss some of the possible implications of their findings for future public land management in the Highlands and for related research. The Assessment reports, however, stop well short of making decisions concerning management of any lands in the Highlands or about future research. In no way do the reports represent “plans” or make land management decisions. Instead, the findings and conclusions offered in the Assessment reports are intended to stimulate discussion and further study. v Contributors to this Report Assessment Team Leader William F. Pell, Ecologist, USDA