Yews and hemlocks - A progress report.

Abstract

An investigation which has been underway for several years at the Cedar-Sauk Field Station and the adjacent Cedarburg Bog is concerned with the American Yew or Ground Hemlock (Taxus canadensis Marsh.) and the Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (1.) Carr.). The yew occurs naturally in small clumps in the upland maple-beech woods, on several islands in the bog and on the better drained ridges and knolls throughout the bog area. Nowhere is it very abundant. In contrast, the hemlock has not been reported in the vicinity of the Station; however, scattered trees of various sizes occur in some of the wooded ravines along Lake Michigan as far south as Grant Park in South Milwaukee and Petrifying Springs Park in Racine County. The purposes for studying these species in this area are: (1) to determine the survival and regeneration of the yew in protected and unprotected areas, (2) to establish hemlock trees as components of the upland forest, and (3) to determine the effects of deer browsing on these species and their chances of survival under natural and artificial environmental conditions.