Manley Woods
Natural resource management at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield is focused on restoring the woodlands and prairies to the way they were at the time of the Civil War battle in 1861. The Manley Woods unit of the park is an oak-hickory woodland. Missouri oak woodlands are highly variable and can be savanna (an open area with sparse trees), open woodland, or closed woodland. In 1861, Manley Woods was likely a savanna community. Changes in land use over the years, including the exclusion of fire, have caused the savannas and open woodlands to transition to closed canopy woodlands. A goal of the park is to return these thick woodlands to savanna and open woodland ecosystems. Fire was reintroduced to the park in 1988 to reduce the tree canopy. Intense disturbances in recent years have also affected plant communities at the park.
What Do We Monitor?
The Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network has monitored four permanent monitoring sites in Manley Woods since 1997. We collect information on climate, fire history and severity, fire fuel loads, what plants and materials are covering the ground, tree density by species, how closed the tree canopy is, and how many tree seedlings and saplings there are. These measurements allow us to assess the current condition of Manley Woods and to track the plant community over time.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
