North Central Research Station - Experimental Forests

Kaskaskia Experimental Forest Shawnee National Forest, IL 2,169 acres, Est. 1942 Contact: Frank Thompson Management of upland oak-hickory.

Brief introduction

Formal establishment of Kaskaskia Experimental Forest (KEF) on the Elizabethtown Ranger District of the Shawnee National Forest was completed in 1942. Boundaries included approximately 1,400 acres reserved for experimental purposes and a 40-acre tract purchased in 1934 for the administrative site. The KEF was administered from Columbus, OH until 1946 when administration was transferred to the newly established research center in Carbondale, IL. The initial Memorandum from the Chief authorizing establishment was revised in 1949. By 1961, the boundaries of the Kaskaskia Experiment Forest enclosed 10,000 acres of which 3300 acres were in federal ownership. In 1972 when the research mission turned to hardwood plantation culture, 1150 acres of federal land not currently part of active research studies was returned to the Shawnee National Forest with a new boundary enclosing only 2,150 acres of federal and privately owned lands. This includes parts of section 19 to 22, 27 to 30, and 32-33 of T11S, R8E and section 3 and 4 of T12S, R8E. The administrative site and all facilities were transferred to the Shawnee National Forest in 1988.

The experimental forest is included in the forest plan for Shawnee National Forest under Management Prescription 8.1 (intensive research areas). Over thirty research studies were established within the experimental forest, of which only the study documenting long-term changes in an old-growth natural area remains active. Of the closed studies, the compartment study covering 755 acres is the most widely known.

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Climate

The average length of growing period (frost-free period) is 190 days with average last spring killing frost date of April 16 and first killing frost date of September 24. Annual average temperature is 55.5 °F and regional annual rainfall is 43.2 inches equally distributed throughout the year; however, prolonged dry periods during the growing season are not unusual. The Rosiclare_5_NW weather station (Site 117487) in Hardin County compiled the following averages from 1971 to 2000:

Winter average minimum temperature: 25°F (4°C)
Winter average maximum temperature: 45°F (7°C)
Summer average minimum temperature: 64°F (18°C)
Summer average maximum temperature: 86°F (30°C)
Average annual rainfall: 39 in (99cm)
Average annual snowfall: 10 in (25cm).

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Soil types

The soils on the forest belong primarily to three series: Alford silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludalfs), Grantsburg silt loam, and Clarksville cherty silt loam. In many areas, nearly the entire loessial mantle has been lost, leaving a surface now covered with chert. St. Louis and St. Genevieve limestones underlie these soils. A narrow belt of fine sandy loam runs along Goose Creek, Hogthief Creek, and Big Creek. These belts are an alluvial formation, fairly fertile, and subject to frequent overflow. Geologically, the Kaskaskia Experimental Forest (37° 32' latitude, 88° 21' longitude) is located on an extensive anticline known as Hicks Dome formed during an explosive phase of igneous activity during Permian times. Erosion has removed much of the original sedimentary formations leaving Devonian limestone outcroppings in some areas that are remnants of the Ozark uplift that occurred approximately 200 million years ago. Subsequent action by wind and water from glaciers north of the area cut into the exposed rock producing areas of deep glacial till through this area of gently to steeply sloping hills. Elevation ranges from 420 to 660 feet above sea level.

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Vegetation types

The KEF is fairly representative of the important upland hardwood forests in southern Illinois and adjacent areas of Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. The following SAF forest types are documented on the forest: SAF 40 (Post oak – black oak), SAF 52 (white oak-red oak-hickory), SAF 53 (white oak), SAF 59, and SAF 64 (sassafras-persimmon). Approximately 40% of the area is mixed hardwood forests found on the lower and middle north and east slopes, coves, and stream bottoms dominated by yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Q. alba), black oak (Q. velutina), several hickories (Carya spp.), black gum (Nyssa Sylvatica), elm (Ulmus spp.), beech (Fagus grandifolia), and maple (Acer spp.). Approximately 50% of the area is of the oak-hickory type found along south and upper north facing slopes and on the ridge tops dominated by black oak, white oak, post oak (Q. stellata), scarlet oak (Q. coccinea), southern red oak (Q. falcata), black jack oak (Q. falcata), and a mix of hickories. There is also a small disjunct stand of chestnut oak (Q. prinus).

The mixed hardwood stands contain an average of 5600 board feet of sawtimber per acre with a basal area of 68 ft² per acre. Average growth rate is 144 board feet per year with about 40 feet of merchantable stem per tree. The oak-hickory stands average 3650 board feet with a basal area of 72 ft² per acre. Average growth rate is 72 board feet per year with about 32 feet of merchantable stem per tree. Timber type mapping was completed in 1935 and 1936 for the entire area.

The understory of the natural area is primarily slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana), sugar maple (Acer saccarum), farkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), redbud (Cercis canadensis), hazelnut (Corylus spp.), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and pawpaw (Asimina triloba). The understory in the dry-mesic forests is slippery elm, Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), summer grape (Vitis aestivalis), and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Spring flora includes wild ginger (Asarum canadense), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), and red baneberry (Actaea rubra). Summer forbs include blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum), and richweed (Collinsonia canadensis).

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Long-term data bases

Only one long-term database is currently being maintained. Data are available on survival, dbh, and in-growth of individual trees in eight permanent plots within the “Kaskaskia Woods”. This 18-acre woods was identified in 1935 as a remnant largely undisturbed old growth forest and plots have been periodically re-measured at nominally 10 year intervals. The natural area is composed equally of mesic upland forest and dry-mesic upland forest communities. Although inactive, the small group opening study has also been repeatedly re-measured.

Paper files are archived at the research laboratory in Columbia, MO for several of the other studies initiated on the Kaskaskia Experimental Forest. Most notable are detailed records from 1948 to 1968 documenting harvesting activities within the compartment study. Thirty-eight 15 to 40-acre compartments were established on mixed hardwood and oak-hickory sites to follow long-term impacts of commercial-type forest management practices for one sawtimber rotation under uneven-aged silviculture. Experimental design included various combinations of logging methods, silvicultural systems, cutting cycles, rotation length, and management intensity. The study, however, failed to include a no-management option. This study comprises the majority of the forest following redrawing of the boundaries in 1972.

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Research – past and current

The original philosophy behind the establishment of the experimental forest was to provide an area representative of the mixed mesophytic forest for experimental and demonstration purposes. The area was intensively signed in the past and still evident although most trails are overgrown with understory vegetation. Several of the more interesting research projects include:

• The compartment study with forty plots treated with various cutting methods, cutting cycles, rotation lengths, and management intensities using an uneven-aged silvicultural approach,
Conversion of farm woodlands to managed forests,
• Chestnut and cottonwood provenance progeny tests,
• Regeneration and growth following small group selection cutting, and
• Documenting natural succession on upland oak-hickory forests.

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Major research accomplishments

• Maple succession without disturbance of upland old-growth oak-hickory forests,
• Effect of small group opening on light, soil moisture, and natural regeneration,
• Development of a Tree Quality Index for hardwood trees, and
• Processing and utilization of oak and hickory for lumber.

Collaborators

The Shawnee National Forest, Southern Illinois University, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, and Auburn University.

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Research opportunities

Much of the KEF is mature upland oak-hickory forest that has been undisturbed for twenty or more years. The compartment study provides an opportunity to evaluate long-term changes in vegetation subjected to a range of cutting methods and cycles to implement a unevenaged silvicultural system. Only the 20-acre Kaskaskia Woods is currently part of an active research study. Most areas on the KEF are available for cooperative research, subject to the NEPA process and approval by the North Central Research Station and the Shawnee National Forest. The KEF also provides opportunities to evaluate long-term effects of acid rain. The neighboring Dixon Springs Agriculture Center was one of the paired sites for the Ohio Corridor study of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program; precipitation at the Center was listed as the 12th most acidic in the nation.

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Facilities, contact address, location

The Kaskaskia Experimental Forest consists of approximately 1,100 acres of federally-owned land within the boundaries of Elizabethtown Ranger District of the Shawnee National Forest. No buildings are being maintained on the forest following abandonment of the administrative site in 1988. The nearest town is Golconda, IL. Neighboring towns include Glendale, Simpson, Robbs, and Elizabethtown.

Contact information:
 

Dr. Frank Thompson
North Central Research Station
202 Natural Resources Bldg.
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO, 65211
phone: 573-875-5341
email: Frank Thompson

USDA Forest Service - North Central Research Station
Last Modified: Thursday, 19 February 2004