Bill Hopple

• Our Geologic History
• Eastern Deciduous Forests
– Forest Layers
– Forest Types
– Old Growth
• Features of the Krippendorf Forest
– Horticultural Legacy
– Defining Species
• Challenges to our forest today
– Invasive Species

A Forest over A Sea

• Bedrock Formation
– Ordovician Seas – 450,000,000 ya
– Sedimentary – Limestone & Shale
• Tectonic Plates
– North American Plate moves north
• Uplift – Cincinnati Arch
• Lexington Peneplane
• Pleistocene Glaciation
– 2,000,000 ya

• Pre-Illinoian Glacier
– About 1,000,000 ya
• Illinoian Glacier
– 250,000 ya
• Wisconsian Glacier
– 70,000-19,500 ya
Note: Kansan Glacier ( 2M ya) did not reach SW Ohio

• Glacial Till
– Sand, gravel, soil, erratics carried by glacier
• Glacial Outwash
– Carried by melt waters
– Sorted by size when deposited

Divided mainly into those topsoils resultant from glacial activity and those not impacted

Primarily small streams low to mid-gradient rivers and oxbows. Few natural lakes.

Cincinnati Bioregion
4 Ecoregions
Defined by:
– Geology
– Topography
– Climate
– Hydrology
– Soil type
– Vegetation
– Wildlife
– Land Use

Loamy, High Lime Till Plains
Eco-region
Wisconsinan deposits
-rolling landscape
-clay, silt, sand, boulders
-alkaline, fertile soils
-Beech-Maple Forest
Loam - Soil composed of sand, silt, clay

Hills
-unglaciated
-narrow ridges and valleys
-neutral, well drained soils
-Oak Hickory Forest

Outer Bluegrass Eco-region
-thin glacial till
-moderately sloped
-neutral well-drained soils
-Mixed Mesophytic Forest

Pre-Wisconsinan Drift Plains
Eco-region
-Illinoian deposits
-Drift – material of glacial origin (till, lake sediments, gravel, sand, loess)
-generally flat landscape
-poor drainage (due to young age)
-Swamp Forest – Pin Oaks
Loess – wind blown glacial silt

1803

1903

2003

• Canopy
• Understory
– Sub-
Canopy
– Shrub Layer
• Forest Floor
– Herbs and
Vines

Forest Types
Beech-Maple
Mixed Mesophytic (Mesic)
Oak-Hickory
Bottomland Hardwood

Beech-Maple Forest
• Beech-Maple forests once covered much of Ohio, including parts of Hamilton and
Clermont counties.
• Abundance of beech and (sugar) maple trees (in some cases up to 90% of the trees are of these two species).

Mixed Mesophytic (Mesic) Forest
• on well-drained soil, usually a loam.
• a high species diversity of trees and other plants
• generally appear lush.
• Most of the Eastern Deciduous Forest can be described as Mesic.

Mixed Mesophytic (Mesic) Forest

A forest of nut producing trees: various species of oak, hickory, formerly chestnut (now surviving only as understory sprouts).
• Understory of flowering dogwood, sassafras, hackberry, hawthorn.
• The shrub layer is distinct, dominated by species characteristic of acidic soils; blueberries, huckleberries, and laurels. Some shrubs are evergreen.

• Also known as Riverine Forests - moist sites along rivers and floodplains. Spring flooding may be an annual occurrence
• Box Elder, Sycamore, Cottonwoods, Silver and Red Maple occur.
• Some invasion by oak, hickory forest species.
• Open spaces allow herb growth in though cover may be minimal throughout a large portion of the year.

• Field or forest opening
• Colonization by herbaceous plants
• Early successional shrubs & trees
– Shrub spp
– Red Cedar & Black Locust
• Deciduous trees
– Mid successional
– Young Forest
– Mature Forest
• Old Growth Forest

Old Growth Forest
• Many old trees – greater than 150 years
• All age classes
• Standing deadwood
• Prevalence of fallen trees
• High species diversity in all forest layers
• Deep top soil with rich humus layer
• No signs of human influence

Carl & Mary Krippendorf
• 1897 Carl purchased 75 acres in Perintown
• 1900 House built as a wedding present

Wildwood/Groesbeck Property

Rowe Woods Vegetation Zones

• Canopy
• Understory
– Sub-
Canopy
– Shrub Layer
• Herbs and
Vines

• Paw Paw
• Dogwood
• Buckeye
• Sassafras
• Redbud
Sub-canopy

• Spicebush
• Service Berry
• Bladdernut
• Leatherwood
• Buttonbush

CNC Species/Habitat Diversity
• 2002 - Vegetative Assessment and
Species lists
– Dr. Barry Dalton - NKU’s Center For Applied
Ecology
• 2009 – Land Management Plan
– Connie O’Connor, Ed. Director
– Jason Brownknight, Land Preservation
Specialist

Land Management
• Need for diversity of species and habitats available for teaching
– Catalog forest and habitat types
– Prioritize – protect natural heritage & unique habitats; retain some diversity for teaching.
– Management methods
• Seasonal mowing and burning
• Selective cutting or other physical removal
• Selective use of herbicides
• White tail deer

Common invasive species at Rowe
Woods
• Amur Honeysuckle
• Lesser Celandine
• Garlic Mustard
• Multiflora Rose
• Wisteria
• Purple Loosestrife
• Autumn Olive
• Burning Bush (euonymus)
• Wintercreeper (euonymus)
• English Ivy
• Asian Bittersweet

Amur Honeysuckle

Garlic Mustard
Lesser Celandine

Autumn Olive

Burning Bush (Euonymus)

Wintercreeper (Euonymus)
English Ivy
Asian Bittersweet

Land Steward
Volunteers
Began in 2008
30 Active Volunteers
Nearly 1500 Vol. Hours
Nearly 200 Acres Treated

Trees
"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of Robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree."
Joyce Kilmer.
December 6, 1886-July 30, 1918.

Questions?

RW Vegetation map w/ trails