Changes in the forest landscape of the Charles C. Deam wilderness, Southern Indiana, 1939-1990

Abstract

We used aerial photographs from 1939, 1974, and 1990 to examine how land cover has changed on the 5,286-ha Charles C. Deam Wilderness of Hoosier National Forest over this time span. Digital elevation models were used to examine changes in land-cover class (closed-canopy forest, open forest, agriculture/old-field, clearcut, and pine plantation) within each land type (flat uplands, bottoms, mesic slopes, and dry slopes). In 1939 most of the Deam Wilderness lands consisted of agriculture/old fields (33%) and open forest (25.6%), with only 41.4 % in closed-canopy forest. By 1974 most of the wilderness area had become closed-canopy forest (77.5%), and an even greater proportion was in that class in 1990 (86.3%). Since 1939 the forest of the Deam Wilderness has become much less fragmented with larger patch sizes, less total edge, and more total core area (area within a patch > 50 m from the edge). In 1939 land cover varied by land type: flat uplands and bottoms had the highest proportion of agriculture and old-fields (42.4% and 63.3%, respectively), and dry and mesic slopes had the highest proportion of open forests (30.2% and 28.3%, respectively). By 1974 closed-canopy forest was the dominant land cover on all land types.

Citation

Jenkins, MIchael A.; Parker, George R. 2000. Changes in the forest landscape of the Charles C. Deam wilderness, Southern Indiana, 1939-1990. Natural Areas Journal. Volume 20. Issue 1. 2000. pp. 46-55