State Forests: A View Ahead
Tennessee is blessed to have fifteen state forests distributed across the state. From the glade habitat of Cedars of Lebanon to the Ridge and Valley ecosystem of Chuck Swan, they make a diverse representation of Tennessee's forests.
However, some of these forests suffer from degradation due to heavy commercial logging. While the main state purpose of state forests is to bring revenue to the state and to contribute to forest products, the current timber program faces problems that compromise suitability. Clearcutting and other heavy logging methods that leave few trees are resulting in many once -diverse second growth maturing forests degrading into low biodiversity stands, often into dense thickets of poplar or loblolly. This lowers ecological and recreation values, as well as long-term sustainability from a raw economic standpoint. Click here or on the presentation to see issues affecting some forests like Prentice Cooper, Bledsoe, and Chuck Swan and ideas that we presented to the agency in the fall of 2023 at a State Forests Summit at Franklin State Forest.
Clearcut at Franklin State Forest- 2023
Habitat Degradation Hurts Ecological, Recreation, Wildlife, and Commercial Values
Some of the forests that are undergoing logging, such as Natchez Trace, Bledsoe, Chuck Swan, and Prentice Cooper, have many stands that have been logged that are often shifting to dense poplar, maple, loblolly pine, or Virginia pine that outcompete the mosaic of oaks, hickories, shortleaf pine, dogwood, and many other tree species that make up the native forests of Tennessee. These opportunistic species can outcompete other trees and important forbs from getting established, and results in a stand with lower wildlife value . The state's current action plan focuses mostly on logging practices. While the text of the plan favors even aged systems of clearcutting, shelterwood, and seedtree cuts, management strategies that promote a diverse forest with stands that have less invasive logging methods can be successful. Pioneer Forest in Missouri and long term research at University of Kentucky's forests have shown that a variety of thinning, group selection, and other timber management can be effective in a successful timber program that helps maintain a diverse forest, suppressing the tendency of logged stands to revert to monocultures while promoting younger hardwood tree regeneration for a diverse, multiaged forest community. Considering that many stands in some of the forests are not consistently regenerating a balanced set of species from clearcuts and shelterwood cuts, alternatives should be explored.
