That student, Samuel Grinstead of Bowling Green, Ky., has taken a comprehensive inventory of the woodlot as part of a year-long study. This study ultimately will provide information and recommendations to bring the exotic species under control and set the woodlot on a solid course toward renewal. In March 2007, a group of volunteers called the Arboretum Woodland Restoration Corps was organized to help implement the resulting management plan.

“The stand is a remnant of the typical valley-floor oak and pine forest that grew here before Europeans arrived,” says Grinstead, who is pursuing a master's degree in forest resources. “Seventy-five percent of the woodlot's larger trees are oaks, some of which are more than 300 years old.”

The woodlot has an ecological importance for the arboretum, points out Steiner, professor of forest biology. “As one of the few mature forests in this region, it contains native woodland herbs and ferns that cannot grow without the soil conditions and the shelter of the tall oaks,” he explains. “For thousands of years, the hardwood trees, the rich, calcareous soil, and a rock outcrop on the northwestern edge of the lot have provided homes for a variety of plants, each in their niche in the native ecosystem.