Jens Hilke
Landscape Change Project
Perkins Geology Museum
jhilke@uvm.edu
www.uvm.edu/perkins/Landscape/
Index.html
supported by
National Science Foundation
University of Vermont
An on-line database of historic and current photo pairs
Paired Historic Photos
Huntington
Huntington River looking
Northeast
N 440 19’ 32.4”
W 720 59’ 8.6”
-No historic date
Aug 17 2000
Student work posted on line
•Landscape Change Program Photo
Pairs
•Harvard Forest Dioramas

Foster, D.R., and O’Keefe, J.F. 2000. New England Forests
Through Time. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Forest History in Northern New
England
Pre-Settlement Forest 1700
Native American Fires
Created a park-like landscape
with few shrubs
After the fire
Tree species in the Pre-Settlement
Forest
Northern Vermont
Pre-Settlement
Chittenden Co.
Pre-Settlement
Chittenden Co.
Present
Beech
30.4
40.4
4.7
Maple
15.4
15.8
23.8
Spruce
16.4
5.6
1.9
11
5.1
16.2
Hemlock
10.8
7.3
11
Pine
1.2
6.3
12
Oak
0.6
2.8
5.6
Totals
91.2
88.3
75.1
Other Species
8.8
16.7
24.9
Tree
Birch
Siccama, p.161 and Meeks, Land and Resources, p. 235
Clearing of a Homestead by an Early
Settler for subsistence farming. late 1700s
Clearing the Land
Uplands were settled first because
 there were fewer mosquitoes and less disease
 the upland forest had less underbrush making
it easier to clear
The Champlain Valley was also cleared because
 It has rich soils
 transportation was easier on the flat lands
Sawmills were first the to be built
Logging

As settlement
continues, Lumber
became a major
industry (and Burlington
was an important shipping
center)
Forests
cleared for:
•Lumber
•Farmland
•Fuelwood
•Potash
Mountain Road
Construction in
Danby, Vermont
Getting logs to the
mill
At the mill
Railroads
made
transporting lumber
easier accelerating the
pace of
DEFORESTATION
“Our timber trees are greatly reduced, and quite gone
in many parts. In towns near and bordering on the
sea shore, little can now be found within the
distance twenty miles; and it is not uncommon for
the builder to send at this day from thirty to forty
miles for timber and planks, and the stock fast
decreasing, not only from the demand of timber and
planks, but from scarcity of other fuel.”
Benjamin Lincoln 1790s
Revolutionary War General
Deforestation
Agriculture

The economy
turned to
Agriculture
1820 – 1850
Sheep Era
1850 – 1900
Dairy
Butter and
Cheese
Height of Agriculture 1850s
Peru, VT
Pownal, VT
Fairfield, VT. pre -1906
Deforestation
leads to erosion and flooding
Bradford 1896
Bradford 1913
Estimated percentage of forest area in Vermont,
1620 - 1992
100
90
80
Forest Cover
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
16
20
17
90
18
20
18
50
18
89
19
10
19
20
19
25
19
40
19
45
19
60
19
80
19
92
0
Year
According to Klyza & Trombulak. The Story of Vermont. pg. 66.
Farm Abandonment 1860
“Garfield” Vermont
1887
Population in Vermont, 1840 - 2000
Census Data
Population in Addison County
Vermont, 1840 - 2000
Census Data
600,000
40,000
500,000
35,000
30,000
400,000
25,000
300,000
20,000
All of
Vermont
In some parts of Vermont,
population crests in 1850
20
00
19
80
19
60
19
40
19
20
19
00
18
80
18
60
20
00
19
80
0
18
40
Year
19
60
5,000
19
40
0
19
20
10,000
19
00
100,000
18
80
15,000
18
60
200,000
18
40
Population
700,000
Old Field Succession
New plants invade old fields
Pioneer Forest
“Old Field” White Pine on Abandoned
Land 1910
Pine Forest
Richmond, VT
Softwoods
grow quickly in
even-aged
stands
White Pine is Succeeded by Hardwoods
1915
Hardoowds
grow slowly in the
shade
An Aggrading Forest of Hardwoods 1930
Young
Hardwood
forest
The Modern Northern Forest Landscape
Evidence of cultural history
Stone walls
Wolf Trees
Began growing when
surrounding land
was open pasture.
Today’s landscape
is a patchwork
reflecting its
cultural and
natural history