1. Tara L. Keyser, Research Forester, Southern Research Station – Upland Hardwood Ecology and Management, USDA FS, 1577 Brevard Rd., Asheville, NC 28806. tkeyser@fs.fed.us.

3. Wood utilization associated with subsistence living Land abandonment Purposeful burning by Native Peoples Exploitive logging/wildfires European settlement - land clearing for pasture & agriculture, continued use of fire Domestic grazing Photo: Southern Appalachian brook trout foundation Source: American Memory online photographic collection, Library of Congress Fire suppression Relatively short time period

5. Fraser fir; balsam fir; red cedar; shortleaf pine; spruce pine; table mountain pine; pitch pine; white pine; Virginia pine; eastern hemlock; Carolina hemlock; boxelder; red maple; striped maple; sugar maple; buckeye; mountain ash; mountain maple; sweet birch; yellow birch; musclewood; pignut hickory; mockernut hickory; bitternut hickory; red hickory; shagbark hickory; catalpa; hackberry; redbud; pawpaw; flowering dogwood; alternate-leaf dogwood; persimmon; beech; white ash; black ash; green ash; sweetgum; honeylocust; American holly; Carolina holly; butternut; black walnut; yellow-poplar; cucumber tree; Fraser magnolia; mulberry; blackgum; ironwood; sourwood; sycamore; black cherry; white oak; scarlet oak; southern red oak; blackjack oak; chinkapin oak; chestnut oak; northern red oak; post oak; black oak; black locust; sassafras; basswood; elm species; fire cherry; silverbell

12. Wood utilization associated with subsistence living Land abandonment Purposeful burning by Native Peoples Exploitive logging/wildfires European settlement - land clearing for pasture & agriculture, continued use of fire Domestic grazing Photo: Southern Appalachian brook trout foundation Source: American Memory online photographic collection, Library of Congress Fire suppression Silvicultural methods

13. Current RWU-4157 research Quantify the effects of disturbance, both natural and silvicultural, across environmental gradients Develop methods/tools for predicting and controlling changes in the structure and composition of upland hardwood forests Two primary studies: 1. Regional Oak Study Treatments developed for species composition 2. Femelschlag Treatments developed for both structure and composition

14. Regional Oak Study Testing 3 recommended, but largely untested methods (even-aged) to regenerate mixed-species stands (oaks, in particular) Repeated prescribed fire Midstory control prior to regeneration Harvest – burn Addresses ecological integrity ground layer flora; entire suite of tree species; small mammals; bird community; bats; fuels; herptofauna

15. Femelschlag Silvicultural system being tested to regenerate mixed-species stands, AND to restore structural diversity Emulate natural disturbance patterns (Ecological Forestry; Disturbance- based silviculture; Ecosystem management; New Forestry) Biological legacies are retained Multi-aged Vertical & horizontal heterogeneity Structural and compositional complexity

16. Regeneration occurred in gaps from small- and intermediate scale disturbance events Gap-dependent regeneration Differential patterns of mortality resulted in the retention ‘legacy’ trees Biological legacies High levels of within and among stand structural and compositional diversity Multi-aged Ecological forestry