Vegetation patterns in Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma; an analysis of General Land Office Survey records from 1874 and 1905

Abstract

The cross timbers is a region of forest, woodland, and grassland vegetation occupying much of central Oklahoma. The dominant trees in the region are Quercus stellata and Q. marilandica. Although several contemporary studies of the cross timbers exist, historical data sources have not been used in the analysis of species composition and vegetation structure. This study employed Public Land Survey data from 1874 to analyze pre-settlement vegetation of the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. It was determined that historically forest vegetation predominated in the study area. Dominant tree species were Q. stellata and Q. velutina.