OUTDOOR CORNER; GETTING TO KNOW MISSOURI'S CONIFERS

Although Missouri has four native conifers, only two -- shortleaf pine and eastern redcedar -- represent significant forest cover types.

Baldcypress has a limited range within the Bootheel region where it remains a distinctive species in the remnants of Missouri's oak-gum-cypress bottomland forests.

Ashe juniper is a small bushy "cedar" tree only found growing on glades and the dolomite bluffs along the White River.

A number of species of pine are planted in the state, but only shortleaf pine is a native. Studies of pollen grains found in borings from old bogs and ponds in southern Missouri place shortleaf pine's arrival between 3,000 to 7,000 years ago -- a short time geologically. A southern pine, shortleaf moved north from present-day Arkansas following the Current and White river drainages and spreading out over soils of sandstone origin.

From the notes of the first land surveyors and the journals and accounts of travelers and early settlers, we know that shortleaf pine was a major part of the forest cover of the Ozarks. It occupied nearly 7 million acres of Ozark land when settlement by eastern Europeans began.

Absent from the Bootheel region, it is native to 22 Ozark counties. Its northern extension can be described by a line drawn from Franklin County in the northeast to McDonald County in the southwest. The Mississippi flood plain, the rolling plains of windblown (loess) soils, and reduced winter rainfall in the north are the limiting factors to the natural extension of shortleaf pine in Missouri.

Found in both nearly pure stands as well as in mixtures with upland hardwoods, shortleaf pine is still a primary species in the dry-mesic chert forests of the Ozarks, where it forms close canopies of 60 to 90 feet in height over dissected lands. It is often found in mixed stands with post oaks, blackjack oaks and a variety of hickories on the driest sites.

Under more mesic (moist) conditions, shortleaf pine is an associate of scarlet, white and black oaks and upland hickories. Moderately dense understories of dogwood, redbud, blackgum and hickory of 15 to 25 feet develop over a ground cover of blueberry, Virginia creeper, trefoil and Christmas fern.

The extensive pine resource in the Ozarks fueled an early economy. By the 1820s rafts of pine lumber were being floated down the Big Piney and Gasconade rivers in to the Missouri River and on to waiting markets in St. Louis. Sylvester Pattie built a sawmill in 1816 near a stream, now a designated Wilderness Area named "Paddy". In 1820, Morgan Boone, (son of Daniel), set his mill near Pattie's on the Big Piney River.

The major lumber "boom" in the pineries began when rail lines were expanded into southeastern Missouri in 1887. Large sawmills were established, and for a relatively brief period Missouri was a major supplier of pine lumber.

The boom peaked in 1899 and by 1920 the great pineries were cut-out. The lands were sold off as small tracts by the lumber companies or simply abandoned. Open-range law resulted in small-plot farmers annually setting fire to the lands in hopes of sustaining the dwindling supply of native forage for their free-roaming livestock.

The extensive cutting and burning, and the grazing by domestic livestock reduced the pine seed source and made it difficult for pine seedlings to survive, particularly under the vigorously sprouting hardwoods. Today, only 603,000 acres of shortleaf pine and mixed oak-pine forest remain, with nearly 50% of those lands in the Mark Twain National Forest.

Prior to European settlement, periodic burning by Native Americans in their management of the lands kept the thinbarked "cedar" in steep draws and along stream banks. Early maps of Missouri's forest cover show cedar lands only in the White River drainage area in the southwest.

With fire control and the development and expansion of agricultural and urban areas, eastern redcedar is now found in all counties of the state. Growing in pure, dense stands with trees rarely exceeding 60 feet in height or in mixtures with hardwoods, it occupies 714,000 acres, an area greater than that of shortleaf pine.

Redcedar is still most abundant in the Ozark region, growing on dry sites with thin soils, a common species of limestone glades. It is an early invader of abandoned fields and fence rows, where it is often associated with persimmon and sassafras.

Redcedar can also become an unwelcome intruder of pastures, glades and savannas, changing the character of those landscapes and excluding dependent wildlife.

Because of the rich, red color of its wood and aromatic properties, the redcedar is prized for use in closet linings, linen storage chests and novelty items. The small blue berries borne on the female trees are eaten by many species of birds and animals.

Neither shortleaf pine nor eastern redcedar rank very high on the Gypsy Moth's menu -- which is just as well.

The most common problem of redcedar comes from a group of fungi that affect cedar and all species in the apple family. This includes cedar-apple and cedar-hawthorn rusts, both leaf diseases, and cedar-quince rust, a gall disease that causes severe dieback and decline of hawthorns.

Cubical rot fungi and juniper pocket rot enter the redcedar through dead branch stubs and pose the greatest damage to the species.

There are a number of leaf-feeding insects that attack eastern redcedar, but the most common is bagworm, which can completely defoliate a tree.

Fire is a constant factor in the lives of these conifers. Shortleaf pine's thick bark protects the older trees, and dormant buds near the root collar permit young trees to re-sprout. Fire damage can weaken some trees, making them more susceptible to attack by the black turpentine beetle.

Because eastern redcedar is unable to re-sprout when damaged, fire is a major threat to this species.

Joe Garvey is a district forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation.