The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) region has experienced the most widespread loss of bottomland forests and forested wetlands in the United States due to vast land areas being cleared for agricultural use over the past two centuries. However, it is projected that vast acreages of retired agricultural land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley will be available for hardwood plantings by the year 2040 (Wear and Greis 2002). These areas will provide landowners with opportunities for potential income through timber production, enhanced wildlife habitat, potential income from fee hunting and other eco-tourism related activities, and the sale of credits associated with carbon sequestration. One problem often encountered when attempting to establish a bottomland hardwood forest is the occurrence of seedling herbivory by various wildlife species. In fact, mammalian herbivory has been listed as a primary causal factor for failed or delayed reforestation attempts in the LMAV (Stanturf et al. 1998). It is currently uncertain to what extent mammalian herbivory impacts survival, growth, and carbon sequestration in young bottomland hardwood forests. Also unknown is the monetary implications wildlife herbivory may have for landowners who invest inplanting hardwood seedlings in the LMAV. Since recent trends and predictions suggest that afforestation efforts in the LMAV will continue to expand over the next several decades, it is important to assess the impact of mammalian herbivory in this area.
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