This site would have looked completely different. In fact there wouldn't have been a site because the lake level would have been over the entire area. As the glacier receded from the last glaciation it brought in salt water from the ocean that raised the lake level by over 100 meters. Even though our site is at the top of the hill it still would have been completely underwater.
Present
This site is fairly representative of the overall forest. It has similar species composition even though it is the highest point in the park. The main differences it has from the other sites in the part is it contains several cliffs ranging from one to over 20 foot drops. So watch your step if you plan on exploring the site. A feature that should be noted even though it didn't fall within our site was the red cedar stand located to the Northwest of our plot. Its very interesting because there is a distinct change from a Northern hardwood stand to a completely red cedar stand. This stand has even more exposed bedrock with much thinner soils and is slightly higher in elevation compared to our plot. These three factors are what cause the forest to change cover types so abruptly.
Future look of the site
This is is not going to change much as far a cover type and species composition. it will remain a Northern hardwood well into the year 2111. By judging the current species composition along with advanced regeneration and apparent seedlings, it is clear that this will continue to be a red oak dominated site. Since red oak is a long lived species and there were literally tons of Northern red oak seedlings in the under story it's evident that red oak will continue to be the dominate tree species. Unfortunately for the couple white pines that persist in the over story this species of tree will probably no longer be on the site. Since the white pines that are there now are on they're way out and they have not produced seedling regeneration there will probably be less conifer trees on the site.
Signs of human use
An interesting aspect of this site is the lack of evidence of human use. The only thing you will find for human interference is the trail that runs along the Southern most boarder of the plot. Other than the trail there is no evidence what so ever of any type of harvesting. This really isn't surprising being that the site is on the top of some cliffs with absolutely no access for a skidder.
Management recommendations
This is simple, leave it be. This is going to be the parks best management strategy for this site. The site itself doesn't have any value economically. The abundance of cliffs and being located deep in the park it wouldn't make any sense to try and harvest timber from this area. Not only that but there really isn't anything to harvest. The site has thin soils a lots of exposed bedrock making it less than ideal for large saw timber trees. This site has much more biological value considering it has mast producing species like oak and hickory. This site is great habitat for wildlife and would benefit the most if left alone to grow.
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