River and tributaries to the 

 Arkansas River, both of 

 which were navigable. The 

 Ozark's original 700,000 

 acres included 30 

 townships, and only about 

 45 percent of the land within 

 forest boundaries was 

 government owned 

 (Reynolds 1907). 



Like the Arkansas, the Ozark 

 consisted of ridge, slope, 

 and river-bottom lands. 

 Early descriptions indicate 

 that lands in the ridge type 

 supported scrubby growth 

 of black oak, post oak, and 

 blackjack and white oak, 

 with few trees over 3 inches 

 in diameter. But despite 

 their size, these trees were 

 important in restraining 

 erosion. 



The better timber-shortleaf 

 pine, white and red oak, 

 shagbark, white elm, cherry, 

 and black walnut-grew on 

 the slope type. According 

 to the examiner's report, 

 "All the best of the 

 merchantable black walnut 

 and cherry was removed 

 from this country eight 

 years ago [1899] by agents 

 of northern companies, 

 who had the timber 

 thoroughly searched for 

 these woods" (Reynolds 

 1907). 



White oak remained, to 

 become the most prevalent 



species, the strongest in 

 reproduction, and the most 

 valuable. (A memorandum 

 dated November 17, 1913, 

 stated that the Ozark 

 National Forest comprised 

 the largest protected body 

 of hardwood timber in the 

 United States, mainly of 

 white oak.) 



The Ozark's river bottoms, 

 formed of rich, deep alluvial 

 soils and sporting the 

 heaviest and most varied 

 timber growth to be found 

 in the area, were almost 

 entirely in private ownership 

 for agricultural use. 



Summing up the Ozark's 

 lands, the examiner 

 (Reynolds 1907) introduced 

 the subject of fire: 



We have in the 

 proposed Forest an 

 over-mature forest of 

 hardwoods composed 

 largely of white oak, pin 

 oak, and red gum, with 

 a lower story, in many 

 places very dense, 

 composed very largely 

 of sprouts from seedling 

 individuals of the 

 principal species. There 

 seems to be little doubt 

 that the sprout 

 reproduction, as in the 

 case of the proposed 

 Arkansas National 

 Forest, is due largely to 

 repeated surface fires. 



