Vegetation Results from an 1807 Land Survey of Southern Middle Tennessee

The vegetation, as recorded in the Bright Expedition linear survey of southern Middle Tennessee, was conducted during spring 1807 before white settlement. Thirty-five taxa (602 trees) were named in 502 miles of lines in a 1,205 square mile area of the southeastern Highland Rim and southern Central Basin. Agreement between surveyors was good for most species, but unexplained percentage differences occurred on lines across similar topography/soils/vegetation. Diameter distributions approximate those in the virgin Dick Cove nearby and median diameter exceeds those of commercial forests by four inches. Tree composition approximates that from modern inventories with mainly oak forests on the flat-rolling Rim, oak and mixed forests in the dissected Rim and outer Basin and oaks and redcedar prominent in the inner Basin. Composition of known upland community types is averaged in this small, linearly arranged sample set. Non-forest open areas, shrubby and areas of small growth occupied about 12 percent of the flat-rolling Rim; some of these were open barrens for which the area is well known.