This book discusses the historic range of variation (HRV) in the types, frequencies, severities and scales of natural disturbances, and explores how they create heterogeneous structure within upland hardwood forests of the Central Hardwood Region (CHR). The book was written in response to a 2012 forest planning rule which requires that national forests to be managed to sustain ecological integrity and within the natural range of variation of natural disturbances and vegetation structure. Synthesizing information on HRV of natural disturbance types, and their impacts on forest structure, has been identified as a top need.

1. Introduction to Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation: Type, Frequency, Severity, and Post-disturbance Structure in Central Hardwood Forests.- 2. Gap-scale Disturbances in Central Hardwood Forests with Implications for Management.- 3. Oak Decline in Central Hardwood Forests: Frequency, Spatial Extent, and Scale.- 4. Southern Pine Beetles in Central Hardwood Forests: Frequency, Spatial Extent, and Changes to Forest Structure.- 5. First Steps Toward Defining the Wind Disturbance Regime in Central Hardwoods Forests.- 6. Wildfire as a Once-Dominant Disturbance Process in the Pine/Mixed Hardwood Forest of the Appalachian Mountains.- 7. Ice Storms in Central Hardwood Forests: The Disturbance Regime, Spatial Patterns, and Vegetation Influences.- 8. Multi-millennial Record of Erosion and Fires in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains, USA.- 9. Frequency and Magnitude of Selected Historical Landslide Events in the Southern Appalachian Highlands of North Carolina and Virginia: Relationships to Rainfall, Geological and Ecohydrological Controls, and Effects.- 10. Structural and Compositional Change in Great Smoky Mountains National Park since Protection, 1930s-2000s.- 11. Disturbance, Productivity, and Tree Characteristics in the Central Hardwood Region.- 12. The Historic Role of Humans and Other Keystone Species in Shaping Central Hardwood Forests for Disturbance-Dependent Wildlife.- 13. Climate Change and the Future of Natural Disturbances in the Central Hardwood Region.- 14. Managing Central Hardwood Forests Within the Context of the Historic Range of Variability (HRV): Challenges and Opportunities.- Index.