Three hundred years of forest and land‐use change in Massachusetts, USA

Aim  The aim of this study was to document changes in forest composition, structure and distribution across Massachusetts, USA, from the time of European settlement (seventeenth century) to the present, and to investigate environmental and historical influences on regional patterns of variation. Location  The study area encompasses the State of Massachusetts (69.9–73.5°E, 41.3–42.9°N), a 21,000-km2 area in the north-eastern United States. Methods  A wide range of historical sources was used to document changes in land use and land cover for the historical period. Witness trees from early land surveys enabled us to evaluate vegetation patterns prior to widespread European settlement, and to compare historical and modern species composition. Nineteenth century maps of forest cover and contemporary agricultural censuses documented forest patterns during the peak agricultural period. Geographic Information System analyses were used to relate variation in climate, geology and land-use history to historical and modern forest composition. Results  Massachusetts has a complex east-to-west environmental gradient involving changes in physiography, climate, geology and natural disturbance. Until the middle of the twentieth century, agriculture was the most important land-use across the region; although the percentage of land in agriculture and the timing of major land-use changes were remarkably consistent across the state, historical forest patch sizes varied locally and regionally in relation to physiography. Forest composition of both early historical and modern forests is most strongly related to environmental conditions, especially variation in climate. Historical land-use resulted in a state-wide increase in early successional tree species and a dramatic, although recovering, change in forest structure. Main conclusions  At a regional scale, environmental conditions apparently control broad patterns of variation in vegetation composition. Historical land-use practices were relatively homogenous across Massachusetts and local variation was reduced through data averaging at broad spatial scales. At finer spatial scales, historical land-use has strong and persistent impacts on vegetation composition and structure.

[1]  William Cronon,et al.  Changes in the Land , 1983 .

[2]  Community, edaphic, and historical analysis of mixed oak forests of the Ridge and Valley Province in central Pennsylvania , 1992 .

[3]  Forest statistics for Massachusetts , 2000 .

[4]  D. Foster,et al.  Fire on the New England landscape: regional and temporal variation, cultural and environmental controls , 2002 .

[5]  Jeanine M. Pfeiffer,et al.  The historical ecology handbook: a restorationist's guide to reference ecosystems , 2003 .

[6]  Oliver Rackham,et al.  The History of the Countryside: The Classic History of Britain's Landscape, Flora and Fauna , 2001 .

[7]  Emery R. Boose,et al.  LANDSCAPE AND REGIONAL IMPACTS OF HURRICANES IN NEW ENGLAND , 2001 .

[8]  Thomas G. Siccama,et al.  Presettlement and Present Forest Vegetation in Northern Vermont with Special Reference to Chittenden County , 1971 .

[9]  Frederick L. Paillet,et al.  Chestnut: history and ecology of a transformed species , 2002 .

[10]  E. Russell.  Vegetation of Northern New Jersey Before European Settlement , 1981 .

[11]  David R. Foster,et al.  Vegetation patterns in heterogeneous landscapes: The importance of history and environment , 1999 .

[12]  Matthias Bürgi,et al.  A case study of forest change in the Swiss lowlands , 1999, Landscape Ecology.

[13]  G. Whitney.  The history and status of the hemlock-hardwood forests of the Allegheny Plateau. , 1990 .

[14]  J. A. Fluno.  Peter Kalm's Travels in North America , 1967 .

[15]  D. Orwig.  Ecosystem to regional impacts of introduced pests and pathogens: historical context, questions and issues , 2002 .

[16]  W. A. Patterson,et al.  Variations in beech bark disease and its effects on species composition and structure of northern hardwood stands in central New England , 1984 .

[17]  D. Foster,et al.  Controlling site to evaluate history: vegetation patterns of a New England sand plain , 1996 .

[18]  M. Hill,et al.  Data analysis in community and landscape ecology , 1987 .

[19]  M. Abrams,et al.  Physiographic analysis of witness-tree distribution (1765–1798) and present forest cover through north central Pennsylvania , 1995 .

[20]  B. Milne.  Upland vegetational gradients and post-fire succession in the Albany Pine Bush, New York , 1985 .

[21]  C. Lorimer.  THE PRESETTLEMENT FOREST AND NATURAL DISTURBANCE CYCLE OF NORTHEASTERN MAINE , 1977 .

[22]  William Cronon,et al.  Changes in the land : Indians, colonists, and the ecology of New England , 1984 .

[23]  G. Whitney,et al.  From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plains: A History of Environmental Change in Temperate North America from 1500 to the Present. , 1995 .

[24]  L. Filion,et al.  Mid-Holocene Hemlock Decline in Eastern North America Linked with Phytophagous Insect Activity , 1996, Quaternary Research.

[25]  M. Bell.  Did New England Go Downhill , 1989 .

[26]  D. Foster,et al.  Physiographical and historical effects on forest vegetation in central New England, USA , 2002 .

[27]  H. Russell.  A Long, Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of Farming in New England , 1976 .

[28]  David R. Foster,et al.  LONG‐TERM HISTORY OF VEGETATION AND FIRE IN PITCH PINE–OAK FORESTS ON CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS , 2003 .

[29]  J. Wiens.  Spatial Scaling in Ecology , 1989 .

[30]  M. Bürgi,et al.  Evaluating accuracy of two types of early land survey records in the northeastern United States , 2000 .

[31]  G. H. Hepting.  Death of the American Chestnut , 1974, Journal of Forest History.

[32]  W. A. Patterson,et al.  Fire and disease history of forests , 1988 .

[33]  Scott G. Miller,et al.  Historic field systems and the structure of maritime oak forests, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia , 1994 .

[34]  David R. Foster,et al.  Disturbance history, community organization and vegetation dynamics of the old-growth pisgah forest, South-Western New Hampshire, U.S.A , 1988 .

[35]  G. Whitney,et al.  From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain: A History of Environmental Change in Temperate North America from 1500 to the Present. , 1995 .

[36]  Daniel J. Marcucci.  Landscape history as a planning tool. , 2000 .

[37]  David R. Foster,et al.  Cultural, environmental and historical controls of vegetation patterns and the modern conservation setting on the island of Martha's Vineyard, USA , 2002 .

[38]  J. M. Ellis,et al.  Modeling physical and chemical climate of the northeastern United States for a geographic information system , 1995 .

[39]  David R. Foster,et al.  Landscape patterns of hemlock decline in New England due to the introduced hemlock woolly adelgid , 2002 .

[40]  D. R. Dickson,et al.  Forest Statistics for Massachusetts--1972 and 1985 , 1988 .

[41]  D. Houston.  Beech Bark Disease–The Aftermath Forests are Structured for a New Outbreak , 1975 .

[42]  D. Gilbertson,et al.  The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present and Future , 1990 .

[43]  D. Foster,et al.  A Historical Perspective on Pitch Pine–Scrub Oak Communities in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts , 1999, Ecosystems.

[44]  David R. Foster,et al.  Land-Use History as Long-Term Broad-Scale Disturbance: Regional Forest Dynamics in Central New England , 1998, Ecosystems.

[45]  C. Cogbill.  VEGETATION OF THE PRESETTLEMENT FORESTS OF NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND AND NEW YORK , 2000 .

[46]  Charles F. Carroll,et al.  The Timber Economy of Puritan New England , 1973 .

[47]  E. A. Bourdo.  A Review of the General Land Office Survey and of Its Use in Quantitative Studies of Former Forests , 1956 .

[48]  C. M. Cowell.  Historical Change in Vegetation and Disturbance on the Georgia Piedmont , 1998 .

[49]  C. Canham,et al.  Effects of environment and land-use history on upland forests of the Cary Arboretum, Hudson Valley, New York. , 1990 .

[50]  M. Hermy,et al.  The land use history (1278–1990) of a mixed hardwood forest in western Belgium and its relationship with chemical soil characteristics , 1999 .

[51]  D. Foster,et al.  Vegetation variation across Cape Cod, Massachusetts: environmental and historical determinants , 2002 .

[52]  G. Motzkin,et al.  The forests of presettlement New England, USA: spatial and compositional patterns based on town proprietor surveys , 2002 .

[53]  K. Sassaman,et al.  Indian Fires in the Prehistory of , 1988 .

[54]  D. Foster,et al.  Oak, chestnut and fire: climatic and cultural controls of long‐term forest dynamics in New England, USA , 2002 .

[55]  A. Rogers,et al.  Historical atlas of Massachusetts , 1992 .

[56]  David R. Foster,et al.  The illusion of preservation: a global environmental argument for the local production of natural resources , 2002 .

[57]  Forest statistics for Massachusetts: 1985 and 1998 , 2000 .

[58]  P. Robinson,et al.  Bedrock geologic map of Massachusetts , 1981 .

[59]  M. Bürgi,et al.  Effects of postsettlement human activities on forest composition in the north‐eastern United States: a comparative approach , 2000 .

[60]  David R. Foster,et al.  ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN T'HE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF NEW ENGLAND: LESSONS FROM NATURE'S HISTORY , 1998 .

[61]  D. Foster,et al.  Impact of Human Activity on Regional Forest Composition and Dynamics in Central New England , 1998, Ecosystems.

[62]  Mark H. Hansen,et al.  The Eastwide forest inventory data base: users manual. , 1992 .

[63]  David R. Foster,et al.  FOREST RESPONSE TO THE INTRODUCED HEMLOCK WOOLLY ADELGID IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND, USA , 1998 .

[64]  D. Foster,et al.  Legacies of the agricultural past in the forested present: an assessment of historical land‐use effects on rich mesic forests , 2002 .

[65]  R. P. McIntosh.  Forests of the Catskill Mountains, New York , 1972 .

[66]  T. Allison,et al.  Pollen in Laminated Sediments Provides Evidence For a Mid‐Holocene Forest Pathogen Outbreak , 1986 .

[67]  D. Foster,et al.  CONSERVATION OF CHANGING LANDSCAPES: VEGETATION AND LAND‐USE HISTORY OF CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE , 2003 .

[68]  D. Schneider.  Effects of European settlement and land use on regional patterns of similarity among Chesapeake forests1 , 1996 .

[69]  David R. Foster,et al.  Land-Use History (1730-1990) and Vegetation Dynamics in Central New England, USA , 1992 .