An intermediate-scale reconstruction of historic vegetation in Redwood National Park using the original Public Land Survey

In the coast redwood forests in California, environmental protection has shifted away from preservation by land acquisition to preservation by restoration and management of ecosystems. While land acquisition continues remains important in coast redwood preservation, the emphasis is now on protection, restoration, and maintenance of second-growth and old-growth ecosystems. This dissertation speaks to this growing endeavor through three primary goals and objectives: (1) to contribute to biological restoration activities in Redwood National Park by reconstructing historical ecosystems and assessing the quality of present-day old-growth forests as reference ecosystems; (2) to investigate the merits and limitations of using historic land survey records to reconstruct past vegetation at a scale and in a region that has received little attention in the literature; and (3) to reflect on ecological restoration in the national parks.; In this study, the original Public Land Survey field notes were utilized to reconstruct historic ecotones, vegetation communities, and the distribution of dominant woody species based on overstory and understory species lists ("line summaries") compiled by surveyors. Changes resulting from late nineteenth and twentieth century land-use and the influence of environmental variables on the vegetation were explored through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis. Additionally, the surveys were used to ascertain the degree to which remaining old-growth stands in the park represent the pre-logging forest.; Redwood National Park in northwestern California was the first national park mandated by Congress to undertake an extensive ecological restoration and rehabilitation program. Since 1978, Redwood National Park has utilized non-traditional restoration techniques in order to protect its old-growth coast redwood forests and rehabilitate logged-over lands. The big picture for ecological restoration based on the findings from this study and an examination of the Redwood National Park experience acknowledges the role of compromise at every level, and proposes that long-term sustained experimentation, monitoring, and evaluation of restoration efforts will eventually enable a shift from mitigation of environmental degradation to more comprehensive restoration.