No. 117 

THE BEDDINGTON BURN STAGES A COMEBACK 

Today a vigorous young stand of aspen and birch, with 

an understory of softwoods, occupies the Beddington Burn in 

Hancock County in southeas tern Maine. 

However, things did not always look so promising on 

this burned-over area. In August 1952 a severe fire destroyed the original forest stand and most of the organic 

material on the forest floor of this 7,600-acre area of industrial timberland. 

After the fire, several questions were raised by 

state and industrial foresters. Would the area restock naturally? To which species? And to what extent or degree of 

adequacy? 

The Northeastern Station was prompted to study natural regeneration and succession on the burned-over land of 

the Beddington area. The area provided a good opportunity 

for this study: not only was it a new burn, but also the 

original stand and the intensity of the fire could be determined, and the soils were well suited for timber production. 

The rolling topography and well-drained sand and loam soils 

are typical of an area of glacial moraines and related iceand water-borne deposits . 

During the past two decades forest fires have burned 

over an average of 4,775 acres annually in the Maine Forestry District.l This District of 10,356,042 acres, which encompasses a major part of the spruce-fir region in Maine, is 

almost entirely privately owned, and is devoted to timber 

production. 

 ilkin ins, Austin H. Thirty-second biennial report of the forest comnission- er: 1957- 1958. Maine Forest Service, 100 pp. , illus., 1959. 
Though hardwoods such as aspen, birches, fire cherry, 

and red maple often dominate at first on burned-over lands, 

there is evidence that some of the finest spruce stands in 

Maine originated on old burns. 

The Study 

Sixteen groups of four 1-milacre quadrats were established, and initial seedling counts were made at the end of 

the growing season in 1953. The total numbers of seedlings 

per quadrat were again tallied by species at the end of the 

second, third, and fifth growing seasons to observe possible 

changes in stand density and composition. However, these 

quadrats provided only a limited sample of the area, because 

they were limited to a narrow strip near the eastern edge of 

the burn. 

In the spring of 1955 the study was expanded by adding 45 new groups of four 1-milacre quadrats to provide a 

more complete representation of the burn and to provide 

comparative samples of the softwood, mixedwood, and hardwood 

sites on the northern, central, and sduthern portions of 

the burn. However, only the presence of each species on 

each of the 180 new quadrats was recorded at the start of 

the third and fourth growing seasons and again at the end of 

the fifth growing season. These quadrats provide an indication of the distribution of each species over the area. 

The Results 

With the exception of yellow birch, which is absent 

from the central portion of the burn, the principal species 

are more or less evenly distributed over the area. The best 

indication of the success of regeneration on the Beddington 

Burn is the fact that only 3 percent of all the quadrats remain unstocked after 5 growing seasons (table 1). 

Hardwood stocking.--Aspen and paper birch are the 

most numerous and widely distributed tree species on the 

burn. The pioneer hardwoods--aspen, birch, and fire cherry-- 

are present on 96 percent of all quadrats. Though aspen and 

balsam fir occur more frequently on the softwood sites, 

paper birch and yellow birch are most common on the mixedwood sites. Fire cherry is common on the burn, but competition has already reduced its numbers on the softwood and 

mixedwood sites. This short-lived and intolerant species 

probably will continue to decrease in numbers. 

2~he forest types previous to the burn were defined as: Softwood--over 75 

percent of the basal area in softwood species. Mixedwood--between 25 and 75 

percent of the basal area in softwood species. Hardwood--less than 25 percent 

of the basal area in softwood species. 
Table 1.--Distribution of stocking on the Beddington Burn 

after five growing seasons 

(Percentage of quadrats stocked) 

Forest site1 

Species quadrats2 A1 1 

Softwood Mixedwood Hardwood 

Aspen3 ** 98 87 82 9 1 

Paper birch 3 8 53 43 42 

Fire cherry 17 3 0 2 3 22 

Balsam fir **35 8 3 17 

Yellow birch * 5 32 28 16 

spruce4 8 10 2 9 

Gray birch 2 0 0 6 

White pine 3 8 2 5 

Beech 0 5 0 4 

Red maple 2 3 0 2 

Sugar maple 0 0 2 2 

Hemlock 0 0 2 1 

Not stocked 0 7 7 3 

Pioneer hardwoods 100 92 9 3 96 

Softwoods 4 0 22 8 27 

Other hardwoods 2 6 2 6 

l~ata based on the 180 milacre quadrats established in 1955. 

'~ata based on 244 milacre quadrats on all sites (includes 64 quad- rats established in 1953 and 180 quadrats in 1955). 

'~argely quaking aspen, with some big-tooth aspen. 

4~ncludes white, red, and black spruces. 

*A "t" test showed the differences between this and the other two 

forest sites to be significant at the 5-percent level. ** Differences between this and the other two forest sites are significant at the 1-percent level. 

Softwood stocking.--Softwood seedlings, principally 

balsam fir, are present on 27 percent of all the quadrats; 

they form the major component of the understory. Though 

softwoods are more widely distributed on the softwood sites, 

the largest number of stems per acre (1,312) occurs on the 

mixedwood site (fig. 1). 

It is worth noting that in November 1952, 3 months 

after the fire, the ground was littered with balsam fir cone 

scales. A check of the ages of softwood seedlings in 1959 

showed that the establishment of all seedlings examined 

dated back to the year after the burn. Apparently the seedlings developed from mature seed that survived in the crowns 

of dead trees, because very few softwood trees survived the 

burn. The apparent increase in softwood stocking can therefore be attributed to the fact that some of these small 

seedlings were probably overlooked at the time of the first 

seedling counts. 

Site quality.--The soils on the Beddington Burn apparently are good sites for aspen. Tkie other species present 
SOFTWOOD SITE -40 QUADRATS 

ASPEN 

Bl RCHES 

PIONEER HARDWOODS 

SOFT WOODS 

OTHER HARDWOODS 

ALL SPECIES 

ASPEN 

BIRCHES 

PIONEER HARDWOODS 

SOFT WOODS 

OTHER HARDWOODS 

ALL SPECIES 

ASPEN 

BIRCHES 

PIONEER HARDWOODS 

SOFT WOODS 

OTHER HARDWOODS 

ALL SPECIES 

Figure 1. -- 

first and 

original 64 

MIXEDWOOD SITES- 16 QUADRANTS I 

HARDWOOD SITE-8 QUADRATS I 

0 3,000 6,000 9,000 12,000 15,000 

NUMBER OF STEMS PER ACRE 

INCREASE, 1953-1958 DECREASE, 1953-1958 

Stems per acre on the Beddington Burn at end of 

fifth growing seasons. Data are based on the 

quadrats estab 1 ished in 1953. 

are among those commonly associated with aspen where aspen 

reaches its best development.3 At the end of the fifth 

growing season, dominant aspen ranged in height from 8 feet 

on softwood sites to 19 feet on mixedwood and hardwood 

sites. One aspen growing on a mixedwood site measured 2.1 

inches d.b.h. and 19 feet tall. Heights of the dominant 

birches approach but do not reach those of aspen. 

3~ehngraf f, Paul. Possibilities of managing aspen . U. S. Forest Serv. 

Lake States Forest Expt. Sta. Aspen Rpt. 21, 23 pp., illus., 1947. 

4 
According to Gevorkiantz's site-index curves for 

aspen in the Lake States, the softwood sites on the Beddington Burn appear to have a site index for aspen of 45 (at 

a base age of 80 years). On the same basis, the mixedwood 

and hardwood sites have a site index of approximately 80. 

However, these si te-index values are very rough estimates, 

because it was necessary to project Gevorkiantz's site 

curves back to height at 5 years before they could be used 

for these young stands. 

Stand changes.--There is some indication of what the 

maximum stocking levels may be for the pioneer hardwoods on 

these three sites. The softwood site, with the highest initial stocking of pioneer hardwoods, shows the smallest increase in stocking over the 5-year period; the numbers of 

birch and cherry on this site have actually decreased. On 

the other two sites, ingrowth of seedlings, suckers, and 

Sprouts--especially aspen and beech--has narrowed the original differences in overall stocking among the three sites. 

The numbers of birch, red maple, and sugar maple stems have 

also increased considerably on the mixedwood and hardwood 

sites. 

One aspen adjacent to each quadrat was pulled up at 

the time of the initial measurements, and each proved to be 

of seedling origin. However, in subsequent checks numerous 

younger aspen of sprout origin were found on the quadrats. 

Apparently high soil temperatures on the exposed mineral 

seedbed and widespread deer and rabbit browsing stimulated 

the development of aspen root suckers. 

Competition.--In a few instances, softwood reproduction in-the understory on the mixedwood and hardwood sites 

is undergoing severe competition from hardwoods. This hardwood competition comes chiefly from red maple sprouts and 

both sprouts and root suckers of beech that developed from 

root systems surviving the fire. Though the hardwood seedlings have some potential value, the sprout clumps and the 

beech root suckers, which spring up in dense patches from 

the old root systems, may seriously interfere with the development of more valuable stems of both hardwoods and softwoods. If this competition intensifies, it may be necessary 

later to release the desirable stems through appropriate 

stand-improvement measures. 

The most important silvicultural problem suggested by 

the study concerns the paper birch. As the crowns close, 

the aspen has a height advantage over the birch. A weeding 

4~evorkiantz, S. R. Site index curves for aspen in the Lake States. Lake 

States Forest Expt. Sta. Tech. Note 464, 2 pp., illus., 1956. 
operation to release an appropriate number of the most promising paper birch trees should substantially increase the 

value of the stand at maturity. 

--BROOKS B. MILLS 

Research Forester 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 

Forest Service, U.S. Dept. Agriculture 

Bangor, Maine 

AGRICULTURE-FOREST SERVICE-UPPER DARBY