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Abstract
Knowledge acquired from forests that have never been logged can provide clues to the long-term effects of resource utilization. In 1974, a survey was made of the vegetation of the Bowl Research Natural Area in central New Hampshire, known to be undisturbed by humans; and an adjacent watershed known to have been logged in the late 1880's. There were no significant differences in the mean basal areas and aboveground biomass of trees between the two watersheds, indicating that 90 years after logging this forest has nearly recovered. The major species in the Bowl are yellow birch, beech, sugar maple, red spruce, and balsam fir. The forest has a mean basal area of 28 m²/ha and contains about 260 metric tons of aboveground dry biomass. A nearby 60-year-old second growth forest contains about 23 m²/ha basal area and only about 140 t/ha.
Citation
Martin, C. Wayne. 1977. Distribution of tree species in an undisturbed northern hardwood-spruce-fir forest, the Bowl, N. H. Research Note NE-244. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 6p.
