Two hundred years of forest cover changes in Tompkins County, New York'

SMITH, B. E., P. L. MARKS AND S. GARDESCU (Section of Ecology & Systematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-2701). Two hundred years of forest cover changes in Tompkins County, New York. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 120: 229-247. 1993.-The amount of land in forest within Tompkins County from the time of European settlement (1790) to the present was determined from land survey records, aerial photographs, and field reconnaissance. Forest cover in Tompkins County dropped from almost 100% in 1790 to 19% by 1900, then increased to 28% by 1938 and over 50% in 1980. Thus over half of the forest in Tompkins County today is post-agricultural. The number, size, shape, and distribution of forest stands within the landscape changed during a century of conversion of agricultural to forested lands. From 1900 to 1980, there was more forest in the southern part of the county, where the topography is hillier and soils are more acidic. For a portion of the county with extensive clearing for agriculture, the Ludlowville quadrangle, we mapped the outline of all forest stands present in 1900, 1938, and 1980. Post-agricultural forest developed predominantly on the steeper lakeside and streamside slopes rather than on the flatter uplands. Throughout the period 1900-1980 the majority of the forest stands were quite small, <10 ha in area. The distance from random points in forest to the nearest edge of the stand was often less than 50 m, except for some extensive stands on the slopes in 1980. The development of forest on former agricultural lands has resulted in the coalescence of stands, and the degree of fragmentation and isolation of forest stands in the Ludlowville quadrangle of Tompkins County is much reduced today compared to 1900.

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