How old are the Appalachian forests?
The forests of the Appalachians have been logged heavily for three centuries. Photos from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries show many areas almost completely stripped of trees. Many Trail areas were open farmland or pastureland in the 1700s and early 1800s. Lumber is still harvested in national forests and privately owned timberlands along the Trail. Although today’s mountains are heavily forested again, it is mostly “second-growth” timber, except in a few isolated coves of “old-growth” forest that date back to pre-Colonial times. Forest that has grown back from burning or clearing through successive stages to the point at which it reaches a fairly steady state, with dominant full-grown trees, is known as a “climax forest.” Several different climax forests appear along the A.T., and they are not mutually exclusive—different types can be found on the same mountain. The kind you encounter will depend on where you are, on what type of soil is underfoot, and the climate. Th
