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7/10/08 Dendrochronology Elucidates the History of Kentucky's Inner Bluegrass Region
The question as to whether the green fields of Kentucky’s horse country were preceded by closed-canopy forest or by savanna has been convincingly answered by Ryan McEwan and Brian McCarthy in an article in the Journal of Biogeography. A few remnants of oak savannah remain in what is known as the Inner Bluegrass of Central Kentucky. Researchers believed that when Euro-Americans reached the area, they found savanna, rather than forest. Through a dendrochrological study, McEwan and McCarthy have learned that the settlers found instead a closed canopy forest, which they largely cleared, creating, where they left trees standing, savanna. In the trunks of remnant trees, growth rings that were created before about 1800 are narrow, indicating that the trees initiated in closed canopy forests. About 1800 the growth rings increased several fold in size, and the trees began to grow low branches, as the trees that survived the logging were then growing under open conditions. Based on their research, McEwan and McCarthy present a hypothetical model consisting of three eras. During the first era Native Americans inhabited the area and may have cleared patches of forest. During the second era the Native American population shrank, largely due to contagious diseases from Europe, and a closed canopy forest covered the Inner Bluegrass. The third era was the period of land clearing by Euro Americans. This editor who lives in the Bluegrass would add that the era of land clearing morphed into an era of "development," as buildings have been, and continue to be, constructed on prime farmland.
Source: Ryan W. McEwan and Brian C. McCarthy, Anthropogenic Disturbance and the Formation of Oak Savanna in Central Kentucky, USA., Journal of Biogeography (2008) 35, 965-975. (11/17/08--This article and a list of McEwan's other publications are now available through the University of Dayton.)