Forest Management
Prior to the establishment of the refuge most of the forest lands had been used and altered by Euroamerican settlement for well over a hundred years. Forests were cleared for farming, resulting in thousands of acres of agricultural lands. Some of the cleared land was marginal but farmed for years and then grazed. Much of this agricultural land was eventually abandoned, producing various stages of poorly stocked timber stands throughout the refuge. Some of the abandoned fields were planted in pine by TVA in the 1940’s and the refuge in the 1970’s and a few were planted in oaks in the 1980's and 90's. Where the topography was not conducive to clearing for agriculture, forest stands were heavily cut for sawtimber and then burned to encourage browse growth for livestock. In the early 1900’s the iron ore industry clearcut forests in the region to produce charcoal. Much of the refuge’s forest stands were generally even-aged with closed canopies and a sparse midstory and understory as a result of these practices.
The 1962 Forest Management Plan for the Tennessee NWR had as its primary objective “to improve the forest condition so as to develop and maintain optimum game populations, primarily for wild turkey, white-tailed deer, and waterfowl, through sound forest management practices.” The secondary objective listed by this plan was “the application of good silvicultural practices aimed toward obtaining and maintaining optimum stocked timber stands of desired species, size classes and quality to best meet both wildlife requirements and commercial purposes.” In the time period since this plan was created, it seemed that only a few years consisted of any work in regards to forest habitat management.
