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NELSONSTOKESLEWMAN
WOODLAND
A MIX OF SEVERAL FOREST COMMUNITIES REPRE-
senting various stages of stand development
covers the 162 acres of hardwood forest at the
Nelson-Stokes property in Putnam County.
The first of its three compartments was gifted
to Purdue in 1960. The University purchased
the other two in 1966.
This was the first property Carlson worked
on when he became the FNR Department forester. In the spring of 2000, he led a salvage
and improvement harvest following storm
damage that had uprooted many of the trees
and leveled portions of the forest two years
prior. In total, 821 trees were harvested. The
property is still dominated by towering white
oaks and interspersed with young stands of
pole-sized trees.
“We basically had to hit the reset button on
this entire area,” Carlson says as he points to a
regenerating stand. “And today, I’m walking in
the shade of trees that I planted 20 years ago.
I remember what this site looked like. When
I look at the woods, I don’t just see a single
snapshot; I see the history of the forest—all the
way back to the 1940s. I see the future of the
forest. I’m looking at what my grandchildren
will see. Forest management is more than just
cutting and planting trees. It’s affected by a
lot of different circumstances, whether that’s
deer, weather, or invasive plants. Managing
the woods ensures it will continue to be productive over the next 100 years.”
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P U R DU E A LU M N US
