FOREST CONDITIONS IN THE NORTHERN OZARKS OF 



ARKANSAS. 



W. W. Bennett 



The area from which the material for this article was 

 collected lies in the north central portion of Arkansas 

 in Stone, Baxter, Marion and adjoining counties, and 

 comprises the northern portion of the Ozark National 

 Forest. The area is bounded on the north and east by the 

 White River, on the northwest by the Buffalo Fork of White 

 River and on the south by the Missouri and North Arkansas 

 Railroad. It is of the typical Ozark type of hills with a forest 

 cover of mixed hardwoods with now and then a group of 

 Shortleaf Pine and scattered stands of Red Cedar. 



The elevation of the region varies from 600 to 2,000 feet 

 above sea level with a relative elevation of 300 to 500 feet. 

 The hills appear to have no definite arrangement and are cut 

 up by numerous small gulches and canyons. The tops of the 

 ridges are narrow, from only a few rods to seldom more than 

 one-half mile in width and descend into the gulches below 

 by steep slopes. The smaller gulches and canyons are nar- 

 row, with steep rocky slopes and in many cases with perpen- 

 dicular cliffs making the adjoining hills practically inaccess- 

 ible. Along some of the larger streams the bottom lands 

 are flat but are usually not over one-fourth mile wide. 



The soil is, as a rule, shallow ,and rocky, but along some 

 of the larger streams is sometimes fairly deep and free from 

 stones. On the ridges it is of a coarse sandy nature, dry and 

 shallow and intermixed with sandy or flinty rocks. On the 

 slopes it is the same general nature as on the ridges, but on 

 the more gradual slopes, especially the north, it is moister, 

 contains a greater amount of humus and is more fertile. 

 Along the gulches the soil is usually deeper and freer from 

 stones than on either the slopes or ridges and along the larger 

 streams it is a sandy loam, comparatively free from stones 

 and readily tillable. To one accustomed to the deep loam 



