ORIGINAL ARTICLE An integrated reconstruction of recent forest dynamics in a New England cultural landscape

Abstract Broad-scale patterns of vegetation response to three centuries of human disturbance in the northeastern United States are well understood, but stand-scale (0.1–10 ha) interactions between land-use history and the ecological processes underlying these patterns are not. Enduring legacies of land-use history, though pervasive in modern forests, are not always obvious or intuitive, par-ticularly in the regenerating stands that cover most of the region. Focusing on a second-growth, post-agricultural landscape in Petersham, Massachusetts, this study inte-grates (i) a stand-scale sedimentary pollen and charcoal record, (ii) survey and dendroecological data from the surrounding forest, and (iii) analysis of historical docu-ments describing site-specific ownership and land use history. We demonstrate the strength of this multifaceted approach to vegetation reconstruction on sites with long land-use histories that are typical of the modern landscape. We infer that periods of low and high intensity agriculture commenced around 1760 and 1850, respectively, and that the agricultural era was initiated and terminated by episodes of increased fire. Dendroecological data corrob-orate deed records and suggest that a portion of the forest regenerated and was used for small-scale timber production during the mid to late 1800s. Most of the forest established in the early 1900s, after which time the greatest distur-bance was Cryphonectria parasitica (chestnut blight) induced mortality of Castanea dentata (American chest-nut) and replacement by Betula (birch) species. This study highlights the potential to expand integrated historical ecological research into landscapes with lengthy histories of human disturbance and underscores the potential of this research to generate data with spatial and temporal reso-lution relevant to management and conservation efforts