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Existing Vegetation and Proposed Management Zones An integrated resource management approach recognizes that plant and animal communities and humans interact with one another and with their physical environment. Considerations for management of one “component” cannot be made without considering the impacts that a management practice may have on other components of that system. Humans represent one component of this system. Their influence from both within and outside the boundaries of a park is considerable and must be taken into account. Their history on the land, the facilities, trails and roads which they have constructed, and their management and recreation activities, all influence the natural components of the ecosystem. It is recognized that natural systems are not static, that changes are inevitable, and that natural succession is a primary driving force for these changes. Prior to settlement, the entire Pleasant Creek area was woodland. Natural succession in open grassland occurs when woody tree and shrub species begin to invade or encroach. The Pleasant Creek grassland areas vary in the level of encroachment by species such as: plum, autumn olive, elm, cherry, silver maple and honeylocust. Proposed Vegetation Management Plan Proposed Forest Management Zone (635 acres in green) includes the natural woods, floodplain woods and some of the successional woods. See Forest Management Units for details.
Public Use Zones (84 acres in pink) consists of all of the recreation facility areas with the vegetation being managed for that purpose. Proposed Wildlife Management Zone (237 acres in orange) includes the crop
fields and woody plantings/windbreaks. See Wildlife
Management Units for more
details.
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Proposed
Grassland Management Zone (591 acres in yellow) includes the prairie
areas, all of the brome fields and some of the succssional woods. See
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