Multiple treatments yield early success in a shortleaf pine woodland restoration project in the Missouri Ozarks
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Shortleaf pine woodland communities were more extensive in the southeastern Missouri Ozarks prior to Euro-American settlement than today. In 2000, the Missouri Department of Conservation initiated a shortleaf pine woodland restoration project on state land in the Ozarks of southeast Missouri at an area called the Midco Pine Flats Restoration Area. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate shortleaf pine woodland restoration efforts at Midco over the 14-year period from 2000-2013. Our analysis suggested that treatments impacting both the overstory and understory, including mechanical release of both planted and natural pine regeneration, yielded the best short-term results. In contrast, the failure of burning alone to significantly enhance both pine and woodland ground flora in the short-term highlights the importance of canopy disturbance to increase light to the understory to restore this woodland natural community. Increased competition from regenerating hardwood species appeared to limit both pine recruitment and woodland herbaceous cover expansion. Future release treatments will likely be needed to promote shortleaf pine and woodland flora at this and similar sites where shortleaf pine woodland restoration is a management goal.