338 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



have been replaced by aspen, birch, and other hardwood species. 

 Although probably not as effective as the conifers in building up a 

 good vegetative cover and a heavy litter, these species are excellent 

 soil binders. There are some areas where restocking, even with hard- 

 woods, has not followed cutting and fire, and here and there in New 

 England and New York are mountain tops which have been denuded 

 of their very soil by severe fires and consequent erosion. On less, 

 thoroughly denuded areas the first cover to appear is scanty grass and 

 herbs, followed by brush. The conversion to a good forest condition 

 is extremely slow. 



The white-pine forests have probably suffered more severely from 

 cutting and fire than any other forest type in the region. When 

 destroyed, the white pine often has difficulty in reestablishing itself 

 in competition with inferior vegetation. Exposure of the soil during 

 the slow return of the pine is less serious than it would be if the pine 

 did not occur for the most part on sandy soil. 



The northern hardwood forests are probably in better shape than 

 any other forest type in the region. Fires are less prevalent than in 

 the conifer or oak forests. Slash appears to decay more quickly after 

 cutting, and the forest seems to be less inflammable at every stage of 

 development. The hardwood leaf litter breaks down rapidly into 

 humus. In the absence of fire, reproduction is excellent even follow- 

 ing clean cutting. Repeated fires, or a single severe fire in slash, may 

 reduce this type to aspen-pin cherry of no commercial value and too 

 open to produce a deep leaf litter. 



The oak forests have suffered from overcutting, fire, and the 

 chestnut blight. A large portion of the oak type is today at least the 

 third generation from the original forest, and because the second 

 cutting generally took place before the trees had reached full seed- 

 bearing size, the third growth is very largely sprouts. The blight has 

 eliminated chestnut from the region, and although its place in most 

 stands has been taken by other species, there are ridges and south 

 slopes where a good forest cover has not yet developed. Where fires 

 have been particularly frequent in this type, as in the anthracite-coal 

 region of Pennsylvania, the forest has degenerated into scrub oak and 

 grey birch thickets. The scrubby species are not only commercially 

 worthless but render artificial rehabilitation planting of the site 

 extremely difficult. In southern New Jersey the mixed oak and pine 

 forests have been repeatedly cut for fuel wood on a short rotation. 

 Because some of the hardwood stumps fail to sprout, and because 

 periodic fires have tended to wipe out pine seedlings starting from 

 windblown seed, the forest has become progressively more open and 

 filled with underbrush. 



OWNERSHIP 



The farm woodlands which constitute a considerable part of the 

 forests of the region are generally in better shape than the larger tracts 

 owned by forest industries. Some of the loblolly-pine woodlots of 

 the Eastern Shore of Maryland are particularly productive. 



Substantial areas in State ownership, notably in New York and 

 Pennsylvania, have received better-than-average fire protection for 

 a good many years, and have been subject to little or no cutting. 

 Their growing stock has steadily built up. Locally, a long-continued 

 ebb in forest industries has brought about a similar condition on lands 



