What Missouri is supposed to look like!

Note:  Missouri’s plant communities were always shaped by disturbances. These disturbances interacted with complex patterns soil, climate and natural history to create our traditional landscapes.

Some examples of disturbance: Fire, climate extremes, severe weather, disease, predators, and animal grazing.

 

Also, since the last ice age Native American land management practices often included fire. Essentially our traditional forest, woodlands and prairies have co-evolved with fire as they gradually responded to a warmer climate and reestablished themselves in Missouri.

Traditional Missouri landscape: Forest in a controlled burn area

Fire, as a traditional land management practice, was a disturbance that allowed more light to reach the forest floor, resulting in more diversity.

Traditional Missouri landscape: Forest in a controlled burn area

Forest in a controlled burn area

Even before the introduction of exotic species, land management had suppressed fire in many areas. Fire suppression has caused some native species to dominate to a greater degree than in the past, altering the appearance and diversity of the landscape.

Diverse traditional plant community

Recently introduced invasive exotic species, however, display an overwhelming degree of aggressiveness. Simultaneously, a myriad of introduced horticultural imports are altering our traditional environment well beyond any changes caused by fire suppression. Invasive species infestations severely degrade both burned areas and fire suppressed areas.

Severe Honeysuckle infestation completely covering a creek with thick brush

Many of the images in this website show a traditional Missouri environment where disturbances such as fire have been suppressed.  They represent a traditional landscape altered by a non-traditional disturbance regime.

 

Land managers in recent years have recognized the need to not only to remove invasive species, but also to reintroduce traditional patterns of fire disturbance.

Missouri woodland shaped by fire

Traditional Missouri landscape

Some traditional Missouri Landscapes

Traditionally Missouri has had a wide variety of landscape patterns and conditions

Grasslands and glades transitioned into savannas, woodlands and forests

Also traditional Missouri landscapes can be divided in two categories based on land management practices: fire shaped landscapes and fire suppressed landscapes

Fire suppressed landscape on the left – Fire managed on the right

In the past fire was an important component in the Missouri landscape. Native Americans routinely set fires to remove brush and improve habitats for hunting and gathering

Controlled burn area – Cuivre River State Park

Because of our humid climate and the frequency of the fires, most fires were low intensity and large trees survived the burns

Even a few under-story trees survive in a controlled burn area – Cuivre River State Park

Fire shaped landscapes have been found to have a high degree of plant species diversity

Cuivre River State Park

So when we talk about traditional landscapes, the definition depends which type of tradition is being referred to: A Native American tradition with controlled burns…

Cuivre River State Park

or a European American tradition of fire suppression

Cuivre River State Park – Oak Hickory Forest with a Sugar Maple under-story

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Rock Bridge State Park

Rock Bridge State Park – No Fire & No Honeysuckle (yet!)

Unfortunately, since the time of Columbus, European landscape management has included the unlimited importation of exotic species, regardless of the consequences.

Clogged in Honeysuckle! Why?

Mature Oak/Hickory & Maple forests in Columbia, Missouri before the Honeysuckle invasion has arrived

Notice that you can see all the way to the horizon and the view is clear

Mature Oak Hickory forest

Notice how much of the ground is visible, even within a heavily forested area

Asian Bush Honeysuckle (ABH) is an invasive exotic species that is drastically altering our natural landscape

Infiltrating into our fields, wild lands and forests

ABH seems to thrive in most conditions, although deep shade can slow it down

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Often the only thing that stops it is the mower blade… or pavement!

Jefferson Barracks Park, St. Louis, Missouri.

Asian Bush Honeysuckle (ABH) infestation in Columbia, Missouri

MKT Trail, Columbia Missouri

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A modern walk in the woods

Traditional Missouri Landscapes -Rock Bridge Memorial Park

Rock Bridge Memorial State Park is located in Boone County, Missouri.  It is an outstanding example of the natural beauty found in the more rugged parts of the Outer Ozark Border

More specifically, the park is located in the Rockbridge Oak Woodland/Forest Low karst hills  (Landtype Association G – white area within the dark green area)

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Unfortunately its location near Columbia, Missouri puts it on the edge of the Asian Bush Honeysuckle invasion

 

Fortunately, much of the park retains its traditional landscape with pockets of mature Oak Hickory and Maple forests

Within a traditional mature Missouri forest, the canopy keeps the forest floor relatively clear of thick vegetation

In a traditional Missouri woodland, there is a diversity of plants on the forest floor

In a traditional Missouri woodland, the ground is mostly visible and clear

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Areas near streams are often clear of heavy brush and accessible

Without Asian BushHoneysuckle, a variety of details are visible from a distance

Seeing more of the ground

Seeing more of the sky

Even within a cedar grove, the view is clear

The pond is visible and accessible without ABS [Asian Bush Honeysuckle]

Old abandoned fields in Rock Bridge State Park

Since Honeysuckle is only found in scattered locations in Rock Bridge State Park at this time, traditional Missouri landscapes are still available to the visitor

Please consider volunteering to help keep the park clear of Asian Bush Honeysuckle

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