Acidic Oak-Hickory Woodland / Savanna – CEGL003722

A recently burned woodland in the controlled access training area of Fort Pickett Military Reservation.  This area has been subject to random incendiary fires and controlled burning on its edges for about 80 years; and its woodlands, savannas, and grassland patches provide clues to the composition of pre-settlement Holocene vegetation shaped by frequent natural and Native American fires.  The stand shown here has a fairly high percentage of loblolly and shortleaf pines (Pinus taeda and P. echinata), likely relicts of old-field successional forests existing when the base was established.