Bottomland hardwood forests along the Upper Mississippi River


Yin, Y., J. C.Nelson, and K. S. Lubinski. 1997. Bottomland hardwood forests along the
Upper Mississippi River. Natural Areas Journal 17(2):164 173. Reprinted by U.S.
Geological Survey, Environmental Management Technical Center, Onalaska, Wisconsin,
November 1997. LTRMP 97-R025. 10 pp. (NTIS #PB98-111818)


ABSTRACT

Bottomland hardwood forests along the United States' Upper Mississippi River have been
drastically reduced in acreage and repeatedly logged during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.  Conversion to agricultural land, timber harvesting, and river modifications for
flood prevention and for navigation were the primary factors that caused the changes. 
Navigation structures and flood-prevention levees have altered the fluvial geomorphic
dynamics of the river and floodplain system. Restoration and maintenance of the
diversity, productivity, and natural regeneration dynamics of the bottomland hardwood
forests under the modified river environment represent a major management challenge.


KEYWORDS

Bottomland hardwood forests, floodplain dynamics, modified river environment, Upper
Mississippi