CHAPTER IV: WILDLIFE HABITATS FOR MISSISSIPPI’S SGCN,
THREATS AND CONSERVATION ACTIONS^88Today, typical upland forests lack a diverse understory and exhibit very high stem densities. Many
commercially managed forests have been converted to pine plantations and, on national forest lands, the
trend for the past 50 years has been to promote pine reproduction over that of indigenous hardwood
trees. Furthermore, upland forests of Mississippi benefit from prescribed burning. However,
timberlands and protected forestlands, such as national wildlife refuges and lands adjacent to Corps of
Engineers’ reservoirs, are somewhat degraded due to limited exposure to fire, though continued efforts
to increase usage on national forest lands are promising. Also, reproduction for some important trees,
such as several oak species, is hampered by current management systems.
In general, it is likely that more than 90 percent of upland forests (Habitat Types 1 and 3) of Mississippi
have been severely degraded or lost and the condition of the remaining could only be regarded as fair.
For comparison estimates are available from adjacent states: in the coastal plain of Tennessee, there has
been a 90 percent loss of upland hardwoods, and in Louisiana, there has been a 50-75 percent loss of
southern mesophytic forests, calcareous forests, hardwood slope forests and a 50 percent loss of cedar
woodlands. With an increased interest in conservation, through sustainable forestry practices such as the
single tree select cut system of timber harvesting, and a renewed interest in forest restoration on private
and public lands, these systems may improve.
1.1 Dry Hardwood Forests
Value to SGCN - 70
Rank - 7th of 29 Inland Terrestrial Complexes
(Terrestrial, Wetland, Subterranean and Anthropogenic)DESCRIPTION
The dry hardwoods subtype includes oak-cedar woodlands and
dry upper slope oak-hickory forests. They occupy dry upland
slopes and ridge tops with nutrient poor soils of various textures.
Characteristic species of this subtype are oaks (post, southern red,
blackjack and white) and hickories (mockernut and sand).
Shortleaf and loblolly pines are commonly intermingled with the
hardwoods. Representative understory species include
farkleberry, oaks (seedlings, saplings), white ash and flowering
dogwood. Within this subtype distinctive Chestnut oak
woodlands are found on sandy or shallow soils over sandstone/
limestone in the northeastern part of Mississippi. Oak-cedar woodlands are found on moderately
shallow soils of uplands within the blackland regions of northeast and central Mississippi, where Selma