Past and present forest composition and natural history of Deep Woods, Hocking County, Ohio (1).

ABSTACT. Deep Woods, a 114-ha private preserve in Hocking County, OH, is the site of an all taxa biotic inventory (ATBI) coordinated by the Ohio Biological Survey. Here we describe the forest vegetation and natural history of the site and evaluate the role of human disturbance in structuring

the regional landscape. Due to various abiotic factors, the area offers a diversity of habitats and species. The bedrock geology consists of sedimentary rock from the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian formations with alluvial deposits along a riparian corridor. At least three soil orders are represented: alfisols, inceptisols, and ultisols. As is typical of most of unglaciated Ohio, the forests here have been subjected to a long history of anthropogenic disturbance. The first inhabitants of the area were ancient moundbuilders (ca. 2500 YBP). During the 1700s, Shawnee and Delaware groups resided throughout the county. Anglo settlers drove all Native American groups out of the area by the early 1800s. The original land survey data (1801) suggested that the dominant vegetation at Deep Woods was composed of Quercus alba, Q. velutina, Carya spp., and Cornus florida (relative importance value, RIV = 34, 13, 12, 11%, respectively). Tax records show that Anglo-ownership of the property dates from the mid-1830s. County death records indicate occupations of 19th century landowners primarily as farmers. Dominant vegetation types include: hydric floodplain, mesic upland, and xeric ridgetop. Betula nigra, Carpinus caroliniana, Ulmus americana, and Liriodendron tulipifera (RIV = 16, 11, 11, 10%) dominate the floodplain. Whereas L. tulipifera, Acer saccharum, and B. alleghaniensis (RIV = 21, 15, 11%) and A. rubrum, Q. prinus, and Q. alba (RIV= 27, 13, 9%) dominate the upland and ridgetop, respectively. Several other minor habitats also exist such as pasture fields, hemlock ravines, sandstone outcrops, and rockhouse formations. We conclude that the present species composition resembles the 1801 land survey, even though the post settlement disturbances were different than Native American disturbance regimes.

INTRODUCTION

Early conservation efforts tended to focus primarily on a single species--usually an animal. However, during the last decade, there has been a reawakening of the values of habitats and ecosystems, so the emphasis has shifted to plants and diversity as a whole. The key element to this new approach has been an interest in ecosystem management, instead of a species-by-species approach. One of the many positive by-products of this form of management has been the proliferation of biological inventories. These inventories provide a wealth of information regarding species composition, native versus non-native flora and fauna, species status (threatened, endangered, rare), and species-habitat relationships. In particular, floristic data can be used for regional biological inventories, research, impact assessment, and policy formation (Palmer and others 1995). Thus, information regarding vegetation is becoming increasingly important for land management decisions, especially in heavily populated states such as Ohio. Moreover, there is an increasing need to identify representative habitats in major physiographic provinces of Ohio and to establish all taxa biotic inventories (ATBI). The Ohio Biological Survey has recently identified and is coordinating just such an ATBI at Deep Woods, a 114 ha privately owned preserve located in Hocking County (Anonymous 1998). The area lies within the Cliff Section of the Cumberland and Allegheny plateaus of the mixed mesophytic forest region of Braun (1950). Deep Woods is dominated by sandstone cliffs and hemlock-lined ravines and is thus representative of much of the Hocking Hills Region.