Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 07:56:32 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Re: Blackwater Tree Planting In-Reply-To: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit on 03/05/2003 10:13 PM, Steve Huy at Gabboon@AOL.COM wrote: > > But were those grasslands natural or the result of a decline of forest? > > I'm not familiar enough with the natural history of the Delmarva to know if > it was forest or grassland, but I had the impression that forested areas were > a prime component and are as endangered as any open areas. > Actually, in the last few 100 years, there was extensive grass and savannah habitat on the Eastern Shore, based on sediment cores from the Chesapeake Bay (some of these going back 2500 years or more). In the 14th and 15th centuries the area was dominated by pine/grass savannah with lots of fires and consequently, lots of ash in the sediments to accompany the pine and grass pollens. It was probably somewhat warmer than today. It was not until later that more oak and chestnut pollen is seen as climate cooled somewhat. The shore also supported remnant prairies species, mostly plants, but also birds such as Heath hen, which was the eastern race of the Prairie Chicken. This subspecies occurred along the eastern seaboard in appropriate habitat, pine/grass barrens, etc. A lot of the plants now hang on in what are known as "bays" -- areas where vernal pools or other features prevent the growth of trees and where these prairie relicts can survive in what is naturally a mostly forested area. But not entirely, as Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania also had populations of elk and bison when the first settlers arrived, and these species need at least an admixture of forest and open grazing patches. A very long time ago (5000 years or so) the Chesapeake Bay did not exist but what was in its place was a huge freshwater swamp along the Susquehanna (which flowed to the Virginia Capes), dominated by cypress. As sea level rose after the last ice age, the lower river was drowned but its bed forms the Bay's deep channel. Some remnant cypress hangs on at Battle Creek and on the eastern shore. Much of this interesting Bay pre-history is from research by Dr. Grace Brush, of John's Hopkins U. Cheers, Gail Mackiernan Colesville, MD gail@mdsg.umd.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================