>Completely false statement. it takes a LONG time to revert to that stage due to lack of seed bank, possible soil compaction etc.

There are new seeds being deposited in pastures all the time. Nature has many interesting ways to move seeds around. Any given pasture is loaded with tree seeds
just ready to be given the chance to grow.

There have been fields reverting from decades in SW PA. At the point you would consider them deer habitat they would also be considered seedling/saplings stands.

Quit mowing a field and within five years it will be a jungle of woody vegetation.


I will provide the definitions of seedling, sapling, seedling/sapling stand and stocked as well as a link to where I lifted them from

Seedling: A live tree less than 1.0 inch d.b.h. and at least 1 foot tall.

Sapling: All live trees 1.0 inches through 4.9 inches d.b.h. (see d.b.h.)


Sapling/seedling stand: A stand-size class of forest land that is stocked with at least 10 percent of minimum full stocking with live trees with half or more of such stocking in saplings or seedlings or both.



Stocking:

• (for Maine) A relative measure of stand density based on the "A line" of stocking guides for appropriate species and forest types . The relationships between the classes and the percentage of the stocking standard are: nonstocked (0 to 9); poorly stocked (10 to 34); moderately stocked (35 to 59); fully stocked (60 to 100); and overstocked (101 and over).
• (States other than Maine) The degree of occupancy of land by trees, measured by basal area and/or number of trees in a stand compared with the basal area and/or number of trees required to fully use the growth potential of the land (or the stocking standard). In the Eastern United States this standard is 75 square feet of basal area per acre for trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and larger, or its equivalent in numbers of trees per acre for seedlings and saplings. Two categories of stocking are used in this report: all live trees and growing-stock trees. The relationships between the classes and the percentage of the stocking standard are: nonstocked (0 to 9); poorly stocked (10 to 59); moderately stocked (60 to 99); fully stocked (100 to 129); and overstocked (130 to 160).

http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/fia/methodology/def_qz.htm


FIA plots that are nothing but hay field one inventory cycle can most certainly become seedling/sapling stands the next time they are visited.

Gino