4, 
History of Vegetation and Land Use 
The presettlement forest of Anne Arundel County probably consisted 
of mixed mesophytic hardwoods, with pine on the drier sites. In an 
attempt to reconstruct this forest, Braun (1950) places the boundary 
of her Oak-Chestnut and Oak-Pine forest regions approximately within 
the county. On the Maryland Coastal Plain these two regions correlate 
roughly with the Wicomico and Talbot Pleistocene terraces, both of which 
eccur at the Chesapeake Bay Center. The canopy of Braun's Oak-Chestnut 
forest includes American chestnut, beech, white oak, Spanish oak, red 
maple, and pignut hickory. The Oak-Pine forest differs from this pri- 
marily in having much more sweet gum, less chestnut, and persistent 
stands of loblolly and Virginia pines on the drier sites. On the upland 
the Oak-Pine forest also contains black, scarlet, and post oaks; on the 
lowland are loblolly pine, sweet gum, sour gum, red maple, pin and 
willow oaks, beech, and tuliptree. Shelford (1963) describes a similar 
canopy composition for the area, but adds shagbark and mockernut hick- 
ories and blackjack oak. A historical reference to Ivy Neck (Kelly, 
1965) mentions a stand of tuliptree on a hilltop near the Center and 
one of white oak on the adjacent lowland during the 1650's. Virtually 
all of the above species except shagbark hickory now occur at the 
Center (see next section). 
The composition of the presettlement forest was subject to several 
influents, but at present it is difficult to draw conclusions as to 
their relative importances. Shelford (1963) describes the inhibitive 
effect of the selective consumption of nuts and berries by deer, bears, 
