Cortney Mycroft, Project Coordinator Purdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources...

Cortney Mycroft, Project Coordinator

Purdue University

Department of Forestry and Natural Resources

(765) 494-1472

mycroftc@purdue.edu

STATUS OF INDIANA’S STATUS OF INDIANA’S LONG-TERM FOREST LONG-TERM FOREST RESEARCH PROJECTRESEARCH PROJECT

Nine Study Units in South Central Indiana

9 miles

18 miles

Comparing Uneven- and Even-Aged Management to

Maintain Oaks

Uneven-Aged Research Cores

Single Tree Selection

1-, 3-, & 5-acreOpenings

Resembles current state forest practice

20 acres (~10%) in openings with the remaining area with single-tree selection for this rotation only

Next rotation will be single-treeonly.

Even-Aged Research CoresClearcut

Shelterwood

No Treatment(this round of

harvest)

40 acres (~20%) in openingsfor each 20-year rotation

Control Research Cores

No Treatment

Long-term monitoring

Bowers photo

Vegetation – overstory and herbaceous

Woodland Salamanders

Breeding Songbirds

Factors keeping an acorn from becoming a tree…

Mast productionand weevil infestation

Deer predation

Small mammal populationsand acorn consumption

Species of Interest

Timber Rattlesnake State EndangeredCerulean Warbler State Endangered

Indiana Bat Federally EndangeredEastern Box Turtle Special Concern

Visitor and Neighbor Opinion Survey

~3,000 visitor and neighbor surveys administered last fall…

Timeline• June 2006 – December 2008

– Baseline Data Collected

• July 2008 – February 2009– Harvests

• January 2009 – March 2009– Deer Exclosures Installed

• June 2009– Post Harvest Sampling Begins

Current Research/Funding Partners

• IDNR Division of Forestry• Purdue University

– Forestry and Natural Resources– Entomology

• Indiana State University• Ball State University• Drake University• The Nature Conservancy• IDNR Division of Fish and Wildlife• IDNR Division of State Parks and Reservoirs

So much more to learn!

Our project is still in its infancy.

We’re interested in understanding ecological impacts of harvesting in Indiana’s forests…

…Not interested in reinventing the wheel!

  “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything

else in the universe.”

 ~ John Muir (1911)