The forest cover in Plot nine is two aged in structure and comprised of a mix of deciduous and conifer trees. The canopy is made up mostly of white pine, ash, paper birch, sugar maple, and hemlock, while the understory consists mainly of ironwood (hophornbeam), bitternut hickory, basswood, eastern white cedar, and sugar maple.
The forest floor is largely covered in wood and christmas ferns, especially on the banks of the streams. This fern cover gives way to woody species as you move up the hill on either side of the stream. White pine, sugar maple, ash, butternut, striped maple, hobblebush, and northern red oak make up the majority of the woody forest floor cover. Other common ground cover is twisted stalk, false solomon's seal, and partridgeberry.
The plot was fairly uniform and did not divide well into stands, and so was treated as a whole unit throughout the field work. The area was determined to be a Sugar maple-hemlock covertype as is layed out in the Society of American Foresters' publication, Covertypes of North America and Canada.
Density and Composition of Woody Plants
 | |||||
Looking East from the plot center. Photo Credit: Eric Donnelly |
 |
Small wetland area bordering the edge of a stream. Photo Credit: Eric Donnelly |
The plot was fairly uniform and did not divide well into stands, and so was treated as a whole unit throughout the field work. The area was determined to be a Sugar maple-hemlock covertype as is layed out in the Society of American Foresters' publication, Covertypes of North America and Canada.
Density and Composition of Woody Plants
Six subplots within the one hectare plot 9 were sampled to estimate the volume of wood and composition of the site. These plots were 5 meters in radius and made up 4.7% of the total area of the hectare. Sampling included measuring diameters and heights of trees by species at each plot as well as noting understory composition. Because this sampling was intended to estimate the volume of merchantable timber on the site, only trees with diameters of six inches or above are included. The basal area (BA) is the amount of area taken up by the stumps as measured at 4.5 feet off the ground. The board feet (BF) is the number of one foot by one inch by one inch boards that could be taken out of the forest. This number does not account for the taper of the trees, and is therefore significantly higher than the amount of wood that we expect is actually in the forest.
Species | BA/ha (ft2) | BF/ha | Number stems/ha |
White pine (pinus strobus) | 2439.38 | 2517068 | 891 |
S. Maple (acer saccharum) | 108.51 | 76165 | 382 |
A. Beech (fagus grandifolia) | 25 | 13501 | 127 |
Hemlock (tsuga candensis) | 845.83 | 659419 | 509 |
Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) | 253.49 | 203637 | 255 |
Red Maple (acer rubrum) | 56.25 | 30377 | 127 |
Total | 3728.46 | 3500167 | 2291 |
The largest tree found on plot nine was a white pine next to the hiking trail. It was 120 feet tall, as measured by a clinometer, and 37 inches in diameter. This gives the tree a volume of 10456 board feet.
american beech (Fagus grandifolia)
maple leaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)
white ash (Fraxinus americana)
bitternut hickory (Carya cordifomis)
black cherry (Prunus serotina)
northern red oak (Quercus serotina)
striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum)
chestnut oak (Quercus prinus)
intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)
musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana)
shaggbark hickory (Carya ovata)
partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)
sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis)
sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
basswood (Tilia americana)
white pine (Pinus strobus)
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
Poison ivy (toxicodendron radicans)
Dead and Downed Wood
Plot nine had a significant amount of snags (standing dead trees) and downed woody debris. Dead wood is an important feature of forest and ecosystem health. It provides habitat for insects, animals and plants, changes to composition of the forest, and is an important nutrient base. A detailed analysis of the snags present on plot nine was conducted where every snag was measured. Thirty-one total snags were found within the hectare ranging in height from 11 to 65 feet in height.
Snags Present
l,DBH (in) | Decay Code | Height |
7.5 | 1 | 55 |
5.9 | 1 | 30 |
8.3 | 2.5 | 31 |
37.9 | 5 | 20.5 |
3.8 | 5 | 19 |
9.2 | 2 | 20 |
10.8 | 3 | 78 |
11.8 | 2 | 49.5 |
5.1 | 2.5 | 52 |
6.4 | 4 | 24 |
2.5 | 3 | 12 |
8.0 | 4 | 64 |
2 | 2 | 12 |
4.1 | 1 | 20 |
8.6 | 3 | 53 |
5.7 | 1 | 42 |
4.5 | 3 | 54 |
13.7 | 5 | 44 |
10.2 | 4 | 72 |
5.1 | 1 | 35 |
7.0 | 1 | 55 |
8.6 | 1 | 40 |
8.9 | 1 | 60 |
6.4 | 2 | 50 |
8.9 | 1 | 65 |
7.0 | 2 | 50 |
9.9 | 1 | 60 |
9.9 | 3 | 50 |
8.0 | 4 | 11 |
6.4 | 2 | 55 |
5.1 | 4 | 45 |
Decay codes as noted on the above table are a way of classifying the level of decay of the dead wood. Decay codes are based on bark condition, decay, broken limbs and tops, and estimated time since death. A number 1 code indicates a tree with minimal decay, while a tree with a rating of 5 has been dead for a long time and shows significant signs of decay.
Coarse Woody Debris
Large dead wood on the forest floor is called coarse woody debris. There is a high volume of this debris present on plot nine in the form of large branches and dead trees.
Large dead wood on the forest floor is called coarse woody debris. There is a high volume of this debris present on plot nine in the form of large branches and dead trees.
 |
| Large fallen tree in transect 3. Photo Credit: Eric Donnelly |
To calculate the volume of coarse woody debris on our plot, we made four 100 foot transect lines placed randomly throughout the site. Any woody debris greater than 10cm that fell within these transects was counted.
The total volume of the site is estimated to be 2181 meters cubed.
Natural History
The forest is two aged, with the canopy composed of mostly mid successional species. White pines make up the majority of the canopy with hemlock, and red and sugar maple playing a significant role as well. Large paper birch trees, a short-lived, early successional species are present. Most of the snags and fallen dead trees are aspens, an early successional species. The understory is made up of more shade tolerant, later successional species such as sugar maple, ash, shagbark hickory, and bitternut hickory. Based on its successional stage, the forest appears to have been cleared to some extent in its history, perhaps within the last 100-150 years. Given the steep slopes present on the site, it seems unlikely that this site would have been used as farm land by settlers, however, it is possible that this land was used as pasture. No stone walls or remains of barbed wire fences are present on the site to indicate this use however.
 |
Niquette Bay with approximate plot nine boundary lines as drawn in 1915 (Map adapted from UNH historical map archive: http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm) |
Looking at this map from 1915, we can see that the location of plot nine is right on the edge of forested and cleared land as indicated by the green and white on the map. This map also shows a road running to the southeast of the plot, which may have been re-routed to for the Muhley hiking trail. Current signs of land use include the hiking trail and a deer stand in a tree to the North.
Barring major disturbance, what will your site look like in the year 2111?
As the forest continues to mature the paper birches and many of the white pines will die off, leaving room for the northern hardwoods to take a stronger role. There is a strong presence of maple, hickory and, oak, baswood, and ash in the midstory, however, on the forest floor we see coniferous species such as white pine and hemlock. Barring a major disturbance, it is likely that the forest will continue to be mixed as it progresses successionally towards multi-aged. Having said this, the affects of global climate change could produce a significant change in the growing conditions present now and into the future. As the climate warms, species that compete better in colder environments may be pushed out of the site with more southern species moving up. For example, poison ivy, which is present along the sides of the Muhley trail in small patches, may be able to compete better on a warmer site and grow bigger.
