Comparing regeneration techniques for afforesting previously farmed bottomland hardwood sites in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA

Bottomland hardwood forests are highly productive ecosystems located along the floodplains of rivers and streams throughout the central and eastern United States (Hodges, 1994). These ecosystems provide important functions including hydrologic flux and storage, biological productivity, biogeochemical cycling and storage, decomposition and wildlife habitat (Richardson, 1994). Bottomland hardwood ecosystems also provide important values to humans including timber production, hunting, fishing, flood control and storage, nutrient removal and educational and research opportunities (Richardson, 1994). In the United States, the largest extent of bottomland hardwood forests occurred in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, covering about 10 Comparing regeneration techniques for afforesting previously farmed bottomland hardwood sites in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, USA