Audit Finds Woods in Poor Shape

Results from an extensive "audit" of wooded lands throughout Chicago Wilderness reveal a picture of decline. For the last three summers, a team of 140 professional and volunteer plant monitors has fanned out to assess in a rigorously scientific manner the current condition of the upland forests, woodlands, and savannas within Chicago Wilderness. Monitors collected detailed vegetation data in 246 randomly located plots in the wooded lands of eight Chicago Wilderness counties.

They identified the species and measured the circumference of all trees within a five hundred-square-meter circular plot. Within four subplots of 16 square meters, monitors counted stems of all shrubs and tree saplings. Within still smaller subplots, they identified the species and estimated the percent cover of all herbaceous plants and tree seedlings, as well as the percentage of bare ground.

Results show that the current state of wooded lands in the region is poor. Using a standard measure of floristic quality, only 18 percent of the plots were rated as good or excellent, while 82 percent rated fair or poor. Bur oak plots were generally of poorest quality, followed by white oak plots; red oak plots were generally in better shape, although overall quality still ranked mostly 'fair' and 'poor.' Black oak plots were the highest quality plot type. Ominously, the data showed that oaks are not reproducing. "Our analysis suggests that there have not been replacement levels of oak reproduction during the last 50 years at most locations," says Karen Glennemeier, science coordinator for Audubon-Chicago Region.

The woods audit is an effort to provide scientifically sound and statistically rigorous data about the state of wooded lands throughout the region and to assess the nature and extent of threats to woodland biodiversity. It also seeks to chart how these play out in various types of woods and within different geographic areas of the region.

Chicago Wilderness has a goal of restoring 70 percent of the region's woodlands to a healthy state by 2025. Read more in the July issue of Chicago Wilderness Journal.