Southern Ridge and Valley
(Area - 5,930,928 ha)
Description - This physiographic area consists of both the
Southern end of the Ridge and Valley system as well as the tablelands of the Southern
Cumberland Plateau. It descends to the Coastal Plain to the south and rises to the Blue
Ridge to the east. It is located in eastern Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and northeast
Alabama, and is arbitrarily separated from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Valley at the
Tennessee-Virginia border. Upland deciduous forest, the most common naturally-occurring
cover type, is predominantly mixed mesophytic, oak-hickory, or oak-pine forest. There is
also a considerable area dominated by pine, either shortleaf or loblolly.
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Conservation recommendations and needs - The greatest conservation issue in this region is conversion of hardwood and mixed pine/hardwood forest to monocultures of loblolly pine, urbanization, and agriculture. A large percentage of natural vegetation has been cleared for other uses, and mature forest and the birds dependant on mature forest are less secure here than in any other physiographic area in the Southern Appalachians. The long-term health of populations of priority birds will probably depend on maintenance and management of remnant forest as well as aggressive restoration efforts. It is recommended that at least eight upland hardwood forest patches greater than 4,000 ha be sustained and that the number of such patches in the 4,000 to 40,000 ha range be increased. More than 80% of the mixed mesophytic hardwood acreage within these patches should be managed for long rotation or old growth. Existing short-rotation pine, while of less benefit to birds than pre-existing forest, is nevertheless much more valuable than more intensive land uses, and it is recommended that the current percentage of land in this cover type be retained. All existing longleaf habitat should be actively and appropriately managed with fire, and current acreage should be increased where possible. Stable scrub-shrub habitat is greatly depleted, and birds adapted to those conditions persist largely in the early succession phases of actively managed forests. The needs of these birds, including game species such as American Woodcock and Northern Bobwhite should be considered within the context of forest habitat objectives.
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