CHAPTER IV: WILDLIFE HABITATS FOR MISSISSIPPI’S SGCN,
THREATS AND CONSERVATION ACTIONS^133ottomland hardwood forests occur in river floodplains that receive periodic inundation from rivers B
during heavy rainfall events. Bottomland terraces are irregularly flooded for durations of several days to
a month or more. On these lowland sites, the water table remains elevated during the winter and spring
seasons and soils remain moist through much of the growing season. Their soils are less acidic and are
enriched by the influx of nutrients and sediments during floods. Bottomland forests are considered
palustrine. The palustrine habitats are composed of hydrophytic plants that grow and persist despite
periodic low oxygen conditions in the soil.
This type includes one subtype: 4.1 Bottom Hardwood Forests.
GENERAL CONDITION
Bottomland hardwood forests and swamps make up parts of three habitats (Habitat Types 4, 5, and 10).
Bottomland hardwood forests and swamps were once common in the Southeast. During the last century,
the most dramatic wetland loss in the entire nation occurred in forested wetlands of the Lower
Mississippi River Alluvial Plain region, which includes the Mississippi Delta region. Of an estimated 24
million acres of the original bottomland hardwood forests, only 5.2 million acres (22 percent) remained
in 1978. Fifty-six percent of southern bottomland hardwood and bald cypress forests were lost between
1900 and 1978. Only fifteen percent of the Mississippi Delta remained forested and the largest segment
remaining is the complex of forests about 100,000 acres in size within and surrounding the Delta
National Forest. The largest patches of bottomland forests are the wet bottomland types that contain few
tree species
However, significant areas of bottomland hardwood forests remain in the Mid-South region, mainly
situated in the Mississippi River Valley. By classifying the forests into Society of American Forest
cover types, it is estimated that over 2.5 million acres of moderately wet bottomland forest and over 0.6
million acres of very wet bottomland forest remain in the lower part of the Mississippi River Alluvial
Plain within Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The primary cause of bottomland hardwood losses has been conversion of these lands to agricultural
production. Additional losses have been caused by construction and operation of flood control
structures and reservoirs, surface mining, and urban development. The moderately wet forest types are
increasingly fragmented due to improved road access, increased agriculture usage (i.e., pastures and