Bottomland Hardwood Forest Concept

In the southeastern united states floodplain forests are referred to as bottomland hardwoods blh.

Bottomland hardwood forest concept. These lowland forests grow along river bottoms and tend to flood during the rainy season. These ecosystems are commonly found wherever streams or rivers at least occasionally cause flooding beyond their channel confines. It occurs in floodplains along major rivers and streams notably along the missouri and mississippi rivers. The reforestation of bottomland hardwood sites with mast producing species including oaks and hickories is the most important step in achieving the goal of ecological restoration in bottomland hardwood systems stanturf et al.

Numerous attempts at bottomland hardwood restoration throughout eastern texas have been largely unsuccessful. A special kind of bottomland forest is riverfront bottomland forest also called riparian forest or just riverfront forest. These forests are subject to occasional scouring action of fast moving floodwaters. A bottomland hardwood forest is basically a swamp or deciduous forested wetland.

Bottomland hardwood forests support a great variety of tree and shrub species. The greatest concentration of blh historically occurred within the mississippi alluvial valley mav but the ecotype also dominates floodplains throughout the gulf and atlantic coastal plains wharton et al. They are found along rivers and streams of the southeast and south central united states generally in broad floodplains. Historic blhs were a product of the natural hydrologic and geomorphic processes associated with their adjacent rivers.

Bottomland hardwood forests blh are found in temperate humid regions of the southeastern us primarily on alluvial floodplains adjacent to rivers. Typical tree species growing in these forests range from cottonwoods and sweetgums to cherrybark oaks water oaks and hickories. 1982 mcwilliams and rosson 1990. To provide the scientific basis to manage southern bottomland hardwood and wetland forests and associated stream ecosystems for a sustained yield of forest products and other desired values.

These forests are critically important to biodiversity wildlife carbon storage recreation and clean water in the south. Bottomland hardwood forests are seasonally flooded forests located along waterways. Bottomland hardwood forests are floodplain forests that are periodically inundated or saturated during the growing season. These lowland forests grow along river bottoms and tend to flood during the rainy season.