Henry S. Fitch

“ Livestock importantly affected the trend of succession. The tendency of grazing animals to hold back the forest by stripping the foliage from young trees and killing them is selective, however; the several kinds of trees differ in their tolerance to browsing and in their palatability to animals. ”

“ Although the walnut trees growing in woods are of various sizes from those of mature size down to saplings, seedlings are to be found mainly in fields near the woodland edge. In these situations it is one of the more prominent of the woody species invading open lands. The seeds evidently are transported mainly by rodents, especially fox squirrels.
In autumn every walnut tree that is bearing nuts becomes a focal [Pg 106] point of activity for squirrels. Over a period of weeks the squirrels concentrate their attention on the walnut crop, continuing until virtually every nut has been harvested. ”

“ Wherever there are small trees there are old mature trees or remains of them nearby. For this reason the present distribution of black oak on the area is thought to fall entirely within the area occupied by the original forest. At present it occurs throughout most of the woodland except in the warmer and drier situations, such as on south slopes. In some hilltop situations it is common, with occasional large mature trees. In some parts of the bottomland and lower slopes it is abundant also, but there are scarcely any on the upper dry rocky slopes that are the preferred habitat of chestnut oak. ”

“ In some situations where forest has recently closed in, most of the dogwoods are dead or dying. Especially on formerly cut-over north slopes, where oak and hickory have sprung up in a dense stand 20 feet high, with a thick canopy, most of the dogwoods have been eliminated.
On the remaining hillside prairie near the northwest corner of the Reservation, dogwood is the most prominent of the trees and shrubs encroaching onto the area since it has been protected from fire—a period of approximately 20 years. There are dense thickets of dogwood along the borders of the prairie and the woodland edge. ”

“ The bottomland fallow fields, which had the fewest tree seedlings, were dominated by a rank growth of giant ragweed and sunflower, often as much as ten feet tall, effectively shutting most of the light from the tree seedlings. ”

“ White-footed mice, prairie voles and pine voles eat the fruit and seed.
Crataegus mollis.—Red haw occurs over much of the Reservation, both in woodland and former pastures. The trees are scattered, and are not dominant, even on small areas. In the woodland, haw usually grows in the more open situations. Where there are haws in denser woods, they are usually large and old; seemingly they are survivors from a time when the woods were more open. Haw is intolerant of shading, and being of lesser height than any of the climax species, it cannot compete with them. ”

“ In the woodlands small and medium-sized trees are scarce and there is hardly any reproduction. Obviously the osage orange, like honey locust became established in the forests when the stands were more open, probably after cutting of the large trees. In contrast to the meager reproduction in shaded sites is the abundant crop of young saplings along edges of fields adjacent to woods or about isolated osage orange trees. Evidently the tree does not become established readily on bluestem prairie. ”

“ Nevertheless, the small remaining groves of blackjack oak and post oak are on slopes that face south, southeast, or southwest, and probably under original conditions they occupied these situations, separate from the forests of other hardwoods. Slopes facing east, west, and north, are more similar in relative abundance of various kinds of trees, and they do not differ much from hilltop edges that are wooded. Chestnut oak and hickory are most abundant on north slopes, and ash occurs mainly on north slopes. ”

“ The kind of animal and the season and intensity of use also have important bearing on the ultimate effect. Several kinds of shrubs and small trees seem to be especially susceptible to damage by browsing; chinquapin oak, crab-apple, plum, hazel, dogwood, prickly ash, and paw paw were found to be either absent entirely from the parts of the woodland that were heavily used by stock, or much scarcer than they were on adjacent unbrowsed areas. Some woody plants that are even more susceptible may have been completely eliminated by browsing. ”

“ In the course of a few days the foliage of the upper branches would wither, die and turn brown. In some instances numerous sucker shoots grew from the trunk of the tree as the top was dying. Mortality was especially heavy on south-facing slopes. Certain ecologists believe that over the years, as trees deplete subsoil moisture and [Pg 115] periodic droughts make their effects felt, other species also will die off and eventually prairie will replace them where the present forests are growing in dry and exposed situations. ”

“ Along both the upper and lower outcrops, elm and hackberry are especially prominent. Chestnut oak is abundant along the outcrops and on the rocky slope between them in some situations. Ash grows abundantly on some upper slopes but there are few growing on the upper outcrop. On the terrace, elm, ash, hackberry, honey locust, coffee-tree and black oak are abundant. On the lower slopes grow most of the blackjack oaks, post oaks, red oaks and mulberries.
Even greater differences in the local aspect of woodland on the hillsides are caused by slope exposure. ”

“ In open fields, both those used for pasture and those formerly cultivated, young honey locusts have sprung up in abundance since the discontinuance of grazing in 1948. The species is resistant to drought. It seems to have been limited on the area mainly by grazing and shading. The locusts growing in the woods tend to be concentrated near its edges. Those that are deeper in woodland evidently became established after heavy tree-cutting had opened clearings. Locusts in such situations, competing with other hardwoods are of much different form than those growing in the open ”

“ The woodland here is less disturbed than on most other parts of the Reservation, and red oak [Pg 110] is the dominant species. There are large trees, rather evenly distributed, growing on east-facing and west-facing slopes. Just east of the Reservation, in the "Wall Creek" area, the small valley on either side of the creek and the adjacent lower slopes are dominated by giant red oaks larger than any now growing on the Reservation. Farther up the slope in the area of limestone outcrops, dominance shifts to chestnut oak. ”

“ All are on steep lower slopes, where there is dry rocky clay soil and the exposure is mainly south. Probably all four groves date back to the time when the area was still in an undisturbed state. Originally they were perhaps largely separated from the remainder of the woodland. Black Jack oak is more tolerant of heat and drought than most of the other hardwoods are. The species is intolerant of fire, but perhaps was partly protected under original conditions by the sparseness of herbaceous vegetation on the poor soil where the groves were situated. ”

“ Black cherry prefers a rich soil and an open habitat; hence it is generally not common in woodlands of northeastern Kansas.
The fruits of black cherry are a favorite food of the opossum, and the seeds have often been noticed in the scats of this animal. White-footed mice store and eat the seeds. Two trees of black cherry well isolated from other trees except for saplings in low thickets, constituted the headquarters of a Bell vireo's territory each summer from 1951 through 1955. ”

“ In mature trees growth slows; age is likely to be underestimated rather than overestimated in those of exceptionally large size.
The belief that this and similar areas in northeastern Kansas were virtually treeless at the time of occupation by white settlers is shown to be wholly unfounded by the information obtained from growth rings. The ring counts show that many trees now growing on the area and others cut within the last 30 years, but still represented by stumps, were already present in the eighteen sixties when the area was first occupied. ”

“ Quercus stellata.—Post oak is relatively scarce on the Reservation. One area of approximately an acre on a south slope is dominated by it. There are several other small groves and scattered trees. All are on moderately steep south slopes in poor soil. Trees often found associated with it include red elm, chestnut oak, chinquapin oak, blackjack oak, hickory, and dogwood. It seems likely that under original conditions this species occupied about the same area as it does at present. It is not spreading, and there are few young trees anywhere on the area. ”

“ Most of the larger trees have been cut one or more times, but have regenerated [Pg 117] from stump sprouts with multiple stems and spreading habit. The tough and durable wood is useful for fence posts. The growth rate is slow, similar to that of oaks and elms.
Osage orange is intolerant of fire and is easily killed by scorching. It is damaged by browsing, and cannot grow in deep shade. It is drought resistant. Mortality was light during the drought period of 1952-1954, although many of the trees were growing on poor soil in the hotter and drier sites. ”

“ Then the abundant growth of shrubs and young trees formed thickets. Honey locust, growing rapidly tended to dominate. The younger locust saplings that were shaded beneath the leaf canopy died in large numbers.
Honey locust plays an important part in the over-all ecology of the area, providing both food and shelter for many kinds of animals. The foliage is well liked by livestock; consequently young trees have little chance of surviving in heavily grazed pastures. Rabbits like both the foliage, and the bark. Often they girdle or injure young trees, and eat the beans. ”

“ Where there are stands of mixed hardwoods, osage orange is relatively scarce and tends to be on or near the edges of the stands. The osage orange trees growing in competition with oaks, elms and hickories may have tall, slender trunks and narrow crowns, in contrast with the spreading habit of those growing in more open sites. ”

“ The most typical habitat is along rocky ravines on wooded slopes. Occasional trees are scattered through the woods away from ravines on slopes of north, east, or west exposures, or on hilltop edges, providing strong evidence that these areas were more open at the time the sycamore seedlings became established. Cutting of the mature trees in the original forest and subsequent grazing might have created the conditions favorable for their establishment. Many saplings have sprung up in the fallow hilltop fields that were formerly cultivated. ”

“ Table 1 shows the percentages of different kinds of trees a foot or more in trunk diameter on different slope exposures sampled. Elm is almost always the dominant tree, making up from one-fourth to one-half of the total stand. The other species dominate relatively small areas. Chestnut oak usually makes up a substantial part of the stand on hilltops and slopes of north, east, or west exposure. Black oak, red oak, and walnut may be prominent on the east and west slopes. Walnut and locust are prominent on south slopes. ”

“ Hairy woodpeckers (Dendrocopos villosus) , black and white warblers (Mniotilta varia) , and brown creepers (Certhia familiaris) have often been noticed foraging on the trunks. Blue jays, myrtle warblers (Dendroica coronata) , tufted titmice, and summer tanagers frequently forage through the crowns. Often black oak trunks are hollow and the cavities are utilized by various birds and mammals including the screech owl (Otus asio) , barred owl, raccoon, opossum, fox squirrel, gray squirrel, woodrat, and white-footed mouse. ”

“ Map of University of Kansas Natural History Reservation, with 20-foot contours, showing probable approximate distribution of forest in early eighteen hundreds (vertical lines show slopes and hilltops that are still wooded; grid pattern shows bottomlands that were formerly wooded but later cleared for pasture or cultivated crops) . Stippled areas show those slopes and hilltops now wooded seemingly as a result of recent reinvasion, that probably were bluestem prairie earlier. Unshaded areas are relatively flat hilltops that are still grassland and are thought to have been bluestem prairie. ”

“ Osage orange may have been distributed in the same manner. Seedlings of dogwood were moderately numerous on each one of the areas sampled, and those of red haw were somewhat less abundant on each area. Crab-apple was the most abundant species invading the hilltop pastures but was scarce or absent in the other situations. The remaining species of trees, including coffee-tree, hackberry, cottonwood, ash, plum, peach, cherry, cockspur thorn, sycamore, and redbud, each made up only a small percentage of the tree crop in the situations where they occurred. ”

“ Walnut seems to be the one most important food source, for both the fox squirrel and the gray squirrel. Most of the nuts are stored for future use. Many buried separately and never retrieved by the squirrels, grow into new trees. ”