The Ohio State University 1983-06 Photographic History of Forest Encroachment in Several Relict Prairies of the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System , Adams County ,
Forest encroachment into several relict prairies located within the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System, Adams County, Ohio, was studied using a series of U.S.D.A. aerial photographs taken in 1938, 1950, 1965, and 1971. The corresponding photointerpretations reveal increased herbaceous cover after abandonment of cultivated field sites and illustrate the conversion of prairie and prairie glades to forest. All sites studied exhibited decreased percentage of prairie from 1938—1971. OHIOJ. SCI. 83 (3): 109-114, 1983
Ohio's Natural Heritage
This publication was produced jointly by The Ohio Academy of Science and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The Natural Vegetation of Ohio
This map has been prepared by transcribing the species of bearing trees recorded by the original surveyors who traversed the Territory and State of Ohio before the destruction of the virgin forest by the hands of white men. Surveying of Ohio was begun in July, 1786, (1) under The Geographer of the United States, Thomas Hutchins, employing for the first time his device of sections one mile square. This empirical device was hailed as a great American invention, although the State of Ohio has since been found to possess a curved surface in common with the rest of the earth. All corners which lay within the forest were located with reference to nearby trees, the species of which were noted. These corners becoming permanent, the net result of Hutchin's plan has been the preservation of a systematic record of such great biological value as to redeem its geometrical shortcomings. Following the death of Hutchins, active surveying seems to have gone slowly until about 1796. The parcels into which the region was divided are shown in the sketch map, Fig. 1. The Virginia Military Bounty was never surveyed systematically, nor have records for the lower portion of the Symmes Purchase been at hand in usable form. Within the United States Military Bounty most townships were surveyed in part only. The portion of the Western Reserve between the Cuyahoga River and the west line of Lorain County was merely reconnoitered at the time of the first survey. The remainder of the Western Reserve, all of the Congress Lands, and the Seven Ranges were surveyed throughout, traverses in the Reserve being limited to township, rather than section lines as elsewhere. The records of the Western Reserve are still in manuscript form in the vaults of the Western Reserve Historical Society at Cleveland. They