The Forest Habitat of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation Part 1

The Forest Habitat of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation.

by Henry S. Fitch and Ronald L. McGregor.

Introduction

In northeastern Kansas, before it was disturbed by the arrival of white settlers in the eighteen fifties, tall gra.s.s prairies and deciduous forests were both represented. These two contrasting types of vegetation overlapped widely in an interdigitating pattern which was determined by distribution of moisture, soil types, slope exposure and various biotic factors.

The early explorers who saw this region, and the settlers who came later, left only incomplete descriptions, which were usually vague as to the locality and the species of plants represented. As a result, there is but little concrete information as to the precise boundaries between the forests and gra.s.slands, and opinions differ among ecologists. No representative sample of either type remains.

It may be a.s.sumed that the plant communities existing one hundred years ago and earlier were far more stable than those of the present that have resulted from man's disruptive activities. This stability was only relative, however. Within the last few thousand years since the final withdrawal of the Wisconsinan ice sheet, fairly rapid and continual change must have occurred, as a result of changing climate, the sudden extinction of various large, dominant mammals, and finally the impact of successive aboriginal cultures.

The land north of the Kansas River had been a reserve for the Delaware Indians. This land was thrown open to settlement as a result of two separate purchases from the tribe, in 1860 and 1866. The alluvial bottomlands were fertile and soon were under cultivation.

History

Because the prairies and forests were soon destroyed or altered by cow, ax, plow and fire, knowledge of the region's ecology under the conditions that prevailed in the early nineteenth century and the centuries before must be gained largely from circ.u.mstantial evidence.

Although there were no ecologists among the first settlers in Kansas, occasional glimpses of the region's ecology are afforded by the writings of early residents who mentioned native plant and animal life from time to time. However, such mention was usually casual and fragmentary.

A brief early description of forest in northeastern Kansas, which is casual and incomplete, and perhaps misleading, since it differs from later accounts, was included in Major W. S. Long's report of the exploring expedition that pa.s.sed through country now included in Johnson, Douglas, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Riley, Pottawatomie, Jackson, Jefferson and Leavenworth counties in 1819. "The catalogue of the forest trees in this region is not very copious. The cottonwood and the plane tree [sycamore] everywhere form conspicuous features of the forests. With these are intermixed the tall and graceful acacia, the honey locust, and the bonduc, or coffee-tree, and carya [hickory] and fraxinus [ash] ..." (Taft, 1950:442).

A description of the country in northern Douglas County and adjacent Leavenworth County, while it was still in virtually undisturbed condition, was written by Mr. George S. Parks (1854). Travelling up the Kansas River from the Missouri state line he described the vegetation and physiography with respect to specific landmarks that can be easily located at the present time. His descriptions of the areas he saw that were nearest the Reservation, are quoted below, in part.

[Travelling west from near the mouth of Stranger Creek 10 miles ESE Reservation.] "... bluff with open woods and high rolling prairie in background. On the south side of the river ... gra.s.s and scattering timber forming a green lawn back with high prairie. In this neighborhood the sh.o.r.e is rocky. We pa.s.sed a bald bluff on the north, with a rich bottom on the south side, and a high open lawn in the rear. A little farther on the elevated prairies strike the river, giving a charming variety of scenery--while on the north are extended bottoms of rich timbered lands.

"In this vicinity we saw many Indians along the banks; we also pa.s.sed a grape thicket, in the bottom, spread over several thousand acres--while just above, on our right, rose a rocky bluff, covered with open woods. A little above this Sugar Creek empties into the Kansas, from the right; and a little farther up, there is a low bluff--a short distance beyond, there being another fine grape thicket, and rich walnut bottom. On the right side of the river ...

rises a beautiful undulating eminence ... open woods and a fine prairie about a mile back.

"On the left, a short distance above, the Wakarusa flows in--a considerable stream--with good timber for some way back.

"On both sides of the river, above the Wakarusa, there are excellent bottom lands; ... farther up on the south bank, the high prairie comes down to the water's edge.... away as far as the eye could reach in a southwest direction, the prairies were high and rolling, like the waves of old ocean--southward, beautiful groves dot the prairie and the dark line of timber that stretches along the Wakarusa Valley--with the great Prairie-mound ... fixed there as a landmark of perpetual beauty--the meandering river with its dark skirting forests of timber on the north ... Proceeding north, high rich bottoms extend for many miles and we saw vast thickets of grape-vines, pea-vines etc. and paw-paws. The timber was princ.i.p.ally oak, walnut, ash, hickory, mulberry, hackberry, linden, cottonwood and coffee-bean.

[Between the Reservation and the mouth of the Delaware River, 10 miles west.] "A few miles below the mouth of the Gra.s.shopper [Delaware] on the north the prairie undulates gradually back from the river as far as the eye can reach ... between the Gra.s.shopper and Mud Creek there is a prairie bottom where pioneers are making claims."

In 1855 Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, wife of Dr. Charles Robinson who was the first governor of Kansas, described in her diary the environs of Lawrence (1899). In part, the areas described by her overlap those described by Parks, and both writers impart similar impressions. Mrs.

Robinson's writing was concerned chiefly with the social and political affairs of the territory and the occasional comments on the "scenery"

in her voluble accounts must be regarded as impressions rather than purposeful and accurate descriptions, as certain inconsistencies are apparent. Excerpts from several of her more significant descriptive pa.s.sages are quoted below. [Between Lawrence and Kansas City, April 17, 1855.] "... prairie stretching in all directions, n.o.ble forests marking the line of the rivers and creeks, ... tall oaks and walnuts grouped in admirable arrangement ... there were deep ravines ...

skirted with graceful trees, while the water in their pebbly beds is limpid and clear." [North of Wakarusa Crossing.] "... stumps in every direction in the woods ..." [At Lawrence, April 18, 1855.] "The town reaches to the river, whose further sh.o.r.e is skirted with a line of beautiful timber, while beyond all rise the Delaware lands, which in the distance have all the appearance of cultivated fields and orchards.... A line of timber between us and Blue Mound marks the course of the Wakarusa, while beyond the eye rests upon a country diversified in surface, sloping hills, finely rolling prairies, and timbered creeks ... to the northwest there is the most delightful mingling together of hill, valley, prairie, woodland, and river ...

fine grove about a mile west of town, one of Nature's grand old forests."

[On trip to visit a neighbor four miles away from Lawrence.] "There were high, conical hills, bearing on their tops forest trees, with dense, thick foliage; at the next moment a little shady nook, with a silvery rivulet running over its pebbly bed...."

[On trip west toward Topeka.] "Timber was more abundant, not only marking the line of the creeks, but crowning the summit of many an elevation."

[At Lawrence.] "Lawrence and its surroundings, of river flowing beneath the dim forests two miles deep on the north bank...."

Parks' and Robinson's accounts seem to show that in general bottomlands and stream courses were wooded, and uplands were mainly prairie, but that local deviations from this pattern were numerous, with trees and groves isolated or partly isolated in a variety of situations. This condition suggests that prairies were then encroaching into formerly wooded areas. A climatic shift toward hotter and drier conditions, or a change in native practices, with more frequent burning, might have brought about the trend.

Further information concerning the distribution and composition of the forest is afforded by a series of letters from the settlers at Lawrence, Kansas, that were printed in various Boston newspapers and in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, in 1854, 1855, and 1856. In nine such letters which discuss, among other things, the availability of timber, several kinds of trees are listed. Oak (species not mentioned), black walnut, and cottonwood are each listed in seven of the nine letters, while elm, hickory and "white walnut" are each listed in two, and ash, hackberry, sycamore, ba.s.swood, willow and locust are each mentioned only once. Copies of these letters are in the files of Dr. James C.

Malin, to whom we are much indebted for the privilege of examining them, and for his critical reading of parts of the ma.n.u.script.

Early U. S. Government maps of northeastern Kansas show the distribution of forest in the late eighteen fifties, and in general the pattern agrees well with that indicated by the accounts of Parks and Robinson. Through the kindness of Dr. Malin, we have been permitted to examine his photostatic copies of a series of these early maps, covering the area discussed in our study, and made in the period extending from 1855 through 1860. A tracing taken from parts of two of these maps, showing the Kansas River north and east of Lawrence, and the area between the river and the north boundary of Douglas County, is reproduced in Fig. 1. For comparison, a map of the same area showing the stream courses and the distribution of timber, as traced from recent U. S. Geological Survey maps, is reproduced in Fig. 2.

The early maps agree with Parks' and Robinson's descriptions in showing an extensive belt of timber in the flood plain north of the river, and narrower belts of timber along its tributary streams. In Fig. 1 the courses of the Kansas River and of Mud Creek agree fairly well with those shown on modern maps, but there are gross errors in the minor drainage systems of the sections of land in the northeastern part. Other evidence indicates that the distribution of forest was much different than that shown in this part of the map. Field work by the map-makers in this marginal area must have been extremely sketchy.

Dr. Malin explains that such inaccuracies are to be expected because the contracts for mapping were made on a political basis, with little or no regard for other qualifications of the applicant.

The University of Kansas Natural History Reservation is in the northeasternmost section (Section 4, Township 12S, Range 20E) of Douglas County, Kansas. Topographically, it is almost evenly divided into three parts: (1) peninsular extensions of the Kansas River Valley, sloping gradually up to a level approximately 100 feet above that of the flood plain; (2) hilltops 200 feet or more above the level of the flood plain; (3) steep slopes from the hilltops to the valley floor.

The land that is now the Reservation was part of a tract acquired in the eighteen sixties by former governor Charles Robinson, after the Delaware Reserve lands in the northeastern part of Kansas Territory were sold by the tribe. The section of land now comprising the Reservation was used primarily for grazing after Robinson acquired it.

However, several squatters settled on the area and cultivated small acreages for periods of years in the eighteen seventies and eighteen eighties. In the eighteen nineties parts of the area including some of the hillsides were still covered with a mixed forest of virgin timber (_fide_ Frank H. Leonhard in conversation, October 19, 1951). Mr.

Leonhard, who was long in the employ of the Charles Robinson family, remembered the area as far back as the early eighteen nineties when he worked on it cutting timber. He remembered, especially, cutting large walnut trees as much as two feet in diameter, which were valuable timber, but he thought that elm also was abundant at that time. By then the area, separated into east and west halves by a rock wall, had already been heavily grazed, and the original prairie vegetation, presumably dominated by big bluestem, had been much altered. The open upland portions were dominated by blue gra.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1. Tracing from early (1855-60) U. S.

Government maps of northeastern Douglas County, Kansas, and adjacent western edge of Leavenworth County, showing stream courses and approximate distribution of woodland before deforestation had occurred. Section 4 to right of center at upper edge of figure, is now mostly included in the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation. Note inaccuracies in drainage systems on this part of map as compared with Fig. 2.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2. Tracing from 1950 U.S. Geological Survey maps of same area shown in Fig. 1, indicating present distribution of woodland, and the pattern of drainage systems.]

By about 1900 control of the area had pa.s.sed to the J. F. Morgan family. The homesteads had long since been deserted and the entire area was used for grazing (_fide_ J. F. Morgan, in conversation, January 13, 1952). Parts of the bottomland were fenced and broken for cultivation in 1907, 1912, and 1915, and hilltop fields were first cultivated in 1909. Tree cutting was more or less continual. Many of the old stumps still present on the area are remnants of the trees cut in the "twenties" or even earlier. Several acres of hilltop and south slope in the northwest corner of the area were protected from livestock and maintained for harvesting of prairie hay. The hay was mowed annually, and the vegetation was burned at less frequent intervals, usually in early spring. This treatment served to kill encroaching woody vegetation and to maintain a prairie type.

In the mid-thirties control of the area pa.s.sed to the University of Kansas. At that time a program of development was launched by the University and the U. S. Soil Conservation Service with relief labor (_fide_ C. G. Bayles in conversation, November 10, 1953). The work included: filling gullies, digging diversion ditches and building check dams and terraces to prevent erosion; clearing extensive thickets; bindweed eradication from the cultivated areas; and fencing off the wooded hillsides from the valley and hilltop pastures for protection from livestock. This work extended over several years, and one main objective was to utilize the area for growing timber.

However, plans to make extensive plantings of walnut and other valuable timber never materialized. In the forties the check dams fell into disrepair. The area was leased to a farmer and was again heavily overgrazed. In this period there was some tree-cutting by the University's Department of Buildings and Grounds and by farmers, but this cutting was not on a commercial scale and was mainly for firewood and fence posts. One of the chief results of fencing off the wooded hillsides was that shrubs and young trees, formerly held in check by livestock, were allowed to flourish. Understory thickets sprang up throughout most of the woodland, and especially in edge situations.

Late in 1948, after the area had been made a Reservation, livestock were excluded. In the years following, the parts of the closely grazed pastures adjacent to woodland pa.s.sed through stages similar to those that had occurred 10 to 12 years earlier in the parts protected by fences. Young trees and shrubs sprang up in thickets, the numbers and kinds depending on amount of shade, seed sources, soil, moisture, and various other factors.

Although most of the tree-cutting was done prior to 1934, annual growth rings are discernible on many of the old stumps, indicating the age of the tree at the time it was cut. Occasionally the stumps produced sprouts which had grown into sizable trees by 1954. In such instances the year that the tree was cut and the year that it originally began growing could be determined from a study of the annual growth rings. In 54 instances ring counts were obtained from stumps or logs, or from trees that had been split and fallen in wind storms.

Stumps that were otherwise intact often had small central cavities an inch or more in diameter. For these it was necessary to estimate the numbers of missing rings in order to obtain a figure for the approximate total age of the tree at the time it was cut. Many of the logs and stumps were so much decayed that growth rings were no longer distinct, and on most there were a few rings that were not clearly defined. In the majority of instances the time of cutting could not be determined accurately, but it is known that there was little tree-cutting after 1934 on most parts of the area. Probably most of the stumps on the Reservation that were well enough preserved to provide counts were from 20 to 30 years old. Most of the counts of growth rings on chestnut oaks were obtained on a hillside adjoining the Reservation where the trees were cut in the early nineteen forties.

Width of the annual growth rings reflects rapidity of growth in the tree and is determined, in part, by the amount of annual rainfall, especially in this region on the western edge of the deciduous forests where moisture is the chief limiting factor. Periods of drought or of unusually heavy rainfall may result in growth rings smaller or larger than average. Because the trees draw moisture from the deeper soil layer there is a lag in their response to precipitation, and a single year that is much wetter or much drier than those preceding or following it may not stand out clearly in the annual rings. In individual trees the effect of precipitation is often obscured by the effects of crowding and shading by compet.i.tors, injury or disease.

None of the trees examined for growth rings reflected the annual precipitation accurately for long periods though some indication of known drought periods or of series of wet years were usually discernible.

For 35 black oaks, chestnut oaks, and American elms, growth rings averaged 3.81 per inch of trunk diameter (according to size of the tree; 5.1 rings per inch in those trees 9 to 12 inches in diameter, 4.0 in those 13 to 15 inches, 3.6 in those 16 to 24 inches, and 2.8 in those of more than 24 inches). Data from a few complete counts and many incomplete counts indicate that in _Gleditsia triacanthos_ growth is much more rapid, with only 2 to 3 rings per inch of trunk diameter, whereas in _Juglans nigra_, _Celtis occidentalis_, _Carya ovata_, and _Fraxinus americana_ growth is much slower, with usually five or more growth rings per inch of trunk diameter. Individual trees deviate widely from the average for their species, and those in rich bottomland soil grow more rapidly than those in shallow soil of hilltops or those on rocky slopes. If such factors are taken into account the ages of trees may be estimated from the diameters of their trunks. In mature trees growth slows; age is likely to be underestimated rather than overestimated in those of exceptionally large size.

The belief that this and similar areas in northeastern Kansas were virtually treeless at the time of occupation by white settlers is shown to be wholly unfounded by the information obtained from growth rings. The ring counts show that many trees now growing on the area and others cut within the last 30 years, but still represented by stumps, were already present in the eighteen sixties when the area was first occupied. A few trees on the area probably are much older, dating back to the early eighteen hundreds. As there are no virgin stands of timber, and the more valuable trees have been removed by selective cutting at various times, it is to be expected that there are few or no trees on the area approaching the potential longevity for their species.

The many oaks and elms on the area that are more than two feet in trunk diameter mostly date back to the eighteen sixties or earlier.

The distribution of the larger trees and stumps provides a clue as to the original distribution of forest and gra.s.sland on the area. There is no description available of the area that is now the Reservation in its original condition. However, Mrs. Anna Morgan Ward (1945) has recorded comments on the appearance of the country in the section of land adjoining the Reservation on the south, as it appeared when her family settled there in 1864. This land differed from that of the Reservation, as it consists of low rolling hills, well drained with predominately south exposure, and with sandy soil. It adjoins the present flood plain of the Kansas River, and consists partly of the old Menoken Terrace deposited in the Pleistocene. The following excerpts from Mrs. Ward's ma.n.u.script are selected as most descriptive of the original vegetation on this section of land.

[In southwest part of section near the Morgan house.] "... some hills that were covered with Jack Oak trees ... Here we found wild strawberries on the hillsides. And along the creeks we located gooseberry bushes, wild grapes, both summer and winter grapes, plums, and paw paws in the fall. We found a crabapple tree ... Plenty of walnuts and hazel nuts."

[Hilly south-central part of section, the J. P. Whitney farm.] "... on a hill among many small trees ... especially on the east were many trees."

[Less hilly southeastern part of section.] "... Was open prairie and free grazing ground for many years...."