Forest Damage Patterns at Harvard Forest in the 1938 Hurricane

This study examined landscape-level patterns of forest damage at the Harvard Forest caused by the 1938 New England Hurricane. For details on methods and results, please see the published paper (Foster, D. R. and E. R. Boose. 1992. Patterns of forest damage resulting from catastrophic wind in central New England, USA. Journal of Ecology 80: 79-98). The Abstract from the paper is reproduced below. "1. The effect of catastrophic winds on a forested landscape in central Massachusetts was examined to investigate the factors controlling the geographic pattern of damage. The study area, Tom Swamp Tract, Harvard Forest, comprises a valley and adjoining hillslopes supporting second growth hardwood and confer stands. Much of the study used records and maps that were analyzed cartographically with a geographic information system (GIS). "2. Areally, forest damage was distributed fairly evenly among different damage classes ranging from no damage to more than 75% of stems broken or uprooted. However, there was a negative exponential size distribution of contiguous areas of the same damage intensity, with a preponderance less than 2 ha; these areas ranged from less than 0.04 ha to more than 35 ha; hurricane damage exhibited a continuum ranging from minor damage of individual trees to extensive blow-down of broad areas of forest. "3. The spatial pattern of wind damage was controlled by vegetation height and composition and by site exposure, which is predominantly determined by slope orientation and angle. Approximately 3% of the stands in the study site occupied protected sites, 31% intermediate sites, and 66% exposed sites. "4. Forest type susceptibility followed the ranking (from highest to lowest): Pinus strobes, conifer plantations, Pinus strobus-hardwood = Tsuga canadensis-hardwood-Pinus strobes, hardwood-Pinus strobes, hardwood. Damage increased with increasing site exposure to wind and increased approximately linearly with stand height. "5. An empirical GIS model of landsca