The Forest Returns

The Forest Returns. . , Along this stretch of the Mammoth Cave Railroad, passengers looking out their small passenger coach were greeted with views of open fields. Then, the route of the Mammoth Cave Railroad was not through the forest, but through rural farmland. For generations settlers had labored to clear the forest and turn the rocky soil of the Mammoth Cave plateau into farm fields of corn, hay, tobacco, and pastures for livestock. , Today, decades after the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park, nature has reclaimed the old fields. Dense stands of Eastern Red Cedar, as seen here, are testament to the once cleared land. Cedars are among the first trees to return to abandoned fields, beginning a succession of changes that will eventually result in the mature hardwood forest of the dry ridgetops of south central Kentucky. Today, travelers are greeted by a mixed forest, alive with wild turkey, white-tailed deer, and a variety of other wildlife as the forest continues its return.