Originally Posted by
Screamin Steel
I'm seeing you on that Tony. I read a study on maples dominating landscapes back in the 90's, and the deer weren't mentioned as the greatest factor. Top reason stated was lack of forest fires in this century. That problem started long before the deer herd rose to it's peak densities in the NC. In burned over soils, like existed commonly before modern fire control practices, oaks had a decided edge, thriving in burned over soils where maples struggled. This kept the maples in check for centuries, until man interfered and started putting down fires quickly, before they spread. If deer herd is at low enough levels to have the luxuries of eating only preferred species such as oak, than our lower DD has actually compounded the problem...giving another competitive edge to the maples. Why don't we see controlled burns performed extensively in clearcuts...then reseeded with oak? Do this on a large scale in an area with reasonable DD, then fence a small exclosure and I bet your photo looks quite a bit different than the one a few pages back!
Years ago,the oaks thrived because of forest fires.oaks have thick bark and deep root systems so they can withstand fire better than thinner barked maple.Red maple used to actually be called swamp maple because it mostly grew in wet areas where fire couldn't get at them.It's true that fire suppression is a major reason for the dominance of red maple.More controlled burns would be nice but they're lablor intensive and there's a very short window in which they can be done.They can't do them until the snow is gone and they can't do them much into the end of April because of ground nesting birds and the damage to other young wildlife.On top of that,conditions have to be perfect.On top of that yet,up until this year,the laws were not in favor of those lighting the match.Controlled burns can be beneficial at times but there use is limited.I've walked through several controlled burns and some other invasive species like sasaphrass take to them as well.I can show you two burns in Moshannon state forest where the sasaphrass has almost completly taken over immediately after a burn.
Our lower dd's have not compounded the problem.