Daniel Boone National Forest and Triplett Creek Landscape Restoration Partnership

The absence of fire on upland oak forests in the central Appalachians as led to a decline in the forest woodland community type, and along with that, a loss of herbaceous and grass species in the forest understory. Forest woodland structure is much more open that the forest structure now typically found on wooded uplands, suggesting the need for reductions in tree basal area and removal of the forest midstory to allow for the increased light that would favor a return of the herbaceous, and especially grass, species typical of the open woodland communities of the recent past.. Funding from the USDA Forest Service, Daniel Boone National Forest will permit us to conduct research to examine the effects of midstory removal through mastication or burning on understory plant species composition. The objectives of the proposed work are to (1) establish 36-40 forest plots within two research sites on the Cumberland Ranger District of the Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF) and measure forest structure and species composition during summer 2015; (2) measure forest floor fuel loading using forest floor blocks during winter 2015-2016; (3) measure change in forest structure and herbaceous layer species composition during summer 2016; (4) complete one MS thesis and related research publications; and (5) as resources permit, extend remeasurement efforts to longstanding forest plots within the Cave Run, Stanton, and Fishtrap Fire research sites.