New England Forests Through Time: Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas / Edition 1

by David R. Foster, John F. O'Keefe

Overview

Over the past three hundred years New England's landscape has been transformed. The forests were cleared; the land was farmed intensively through the mid-nineteenth century and then was allowed to reforest naturally as agriculture shifted west. Today, in many ways the region is more natural than at any time since the American Revolution. This fascinating natural history is essential background for anyone interested in New England's ecology, wildlife, or landscape.

In New England Forests through Time these historical and environmental lessons are told through the world-renowned dioramas in Harvard's Fisher Museum. These remarkable models have introduced New England's landscape to countless visitors and have appeared in many ecology, forestry, and natural history texts. This first book based on the dioramas conveys the phenomenal history of the land, the beauty of the models, and new insights into nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674003446
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2000
Series:	Harvard Forest Series
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

David R. Foster is Director of the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, and teaches ecology at Harvard University.

John F. O’Keefe is the Coordinator of Harvard University’s Fisher Museum of Forestry.

Table of Contents

Foreword

PART I: LANDSCAPE HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW ENGLAND

Pre-Settlement Forest 1700 A.D.

An Early Settler Clears a Homestead 1740 A.D.

Height of Forest Clearance and Agriculture 1830 A.D.

Farm Abandonment 1850 A.D.

"Old-Field" White Pine Forest on Abandoned Land 1910 A.D.

"Old-Field" White Pine is Succeeded by Hardwoods 1915 A.D.

A Vigorously Growing Forest of Hardwoods 1930 A.D.

The Modern Forest Landscape

Summary: Ecological Lessons from Forest History

PART II: CONSERVATION ISSUES IN THE HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND FORESTS

Old-Growth Forests

Wildlife Habitat in a Dynamic Landscape

Accelerated Erosion with Intensive Land Use

Forest Fire

Forest Fire Management

PART III: FOREST MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL NEW ENGLAND

Early Treatment of a Hardwood Stand

Improvement Cutting in a Hardwood Stand

First Thinning in a Mixed White Pine-Hardwood Forest

Third Thinning in a Mixed White Pine-Hardwood Forest

Conversion Of Cordwood To Future Sawtimber

Increasing While Pine in Hardwood Stands

Release of Pine from Suppression by Gray Birch

Pruning White Pine to Produce Better Logs

Group Selection Method of Harvesting White Pine

Shelterwood Method in White Pine And Hardwoods

PART IV: ARTISTRY AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE DIORAMAS

Sugqested Further Reading

About the Harvard Forest

The Fisher Museum

Editorial Reviews

Using photographs and details from the dioramas, the authors describe the region's natural history, and interpret its consequences in terms of modern conservation issues. Anyone who sees the book will surely develop a longing to visit or revisit the museum and its dioramas in the near future.

Natural New England

The authors do a good job weaving the text with photographs and details from the dioramas to interpret the dynamic landscapes and the consequences of wholesale land-clearing, farm abandonment, and unchecked logging on the hillsides of central New England.

Northern Woodlands - Yuri Bihun

Over the past 300 years, New England landscape has shifted from forest to field and back again. This book presents this natural and human history through photos of the remarkable dioramas at Harvard's Fisher Museum woven together with a lively, informed narrative.

Wild Earth - David Johns

In the museum at the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, are 23 large dioramas showing how that land looked at various periods during the past 300 years. This book displays all the dioramas in color for the first time, and the accompanying text interprets the environmental drama they exquisitely depict. Today, one sees, the region is in many ways more natural than at any time since the Revolution.

Harvard Magazine

Eighty years ago, before virtual reality, before cinematic fantasies, Richard T. Fisher, then director of the Harvard Forest, and Ernest Stillman, a philanthropist, created a state-of-the-art display to try to explain the changes that occurred in New England over time. This book is both a historical document, giving a sense of how the science of forestry some 75 years ago understood the extent of man's impact on the environment, and a scientific synopsis of our current understanding of the ecological effects of agriculture and urbanization.

Current Books Chicago Botanic Garden

Over the past 300 years, New England landscape has shifted from forest to field and back again. This book presents this natural and human history through photos of the remarkable dioramas at Harvard's Fisher Museum woven together with a lively, informed narrative.
— David Johns

Wild Earth

The authors do a good job weaving the text with photographs and details from the dioramas to interpret the dynamic landscapes and the consequences of wholesale land-clearing, farm abandonment, and unchecked logging on the hillsides of central New England.
— Yuri Bihun

Northern Woodlands