Barrens of Fort Campbell

Photo By Sgt. Maj. Denise Shelton | Daniel Moss, avian ecologist at Fort Campbell, describes the resilient characteristics of the native broom sedge that inhabits the installation’s barrens while standing in the almost 6-foot grass. Photo by Denise Shelton Fort Campbell PAO  

FORT CAMPBELL, KY, UNITED STATES

02.24.2017

Story by Sgt. Maj. Denise Shelton 

377th Theater Sustainment Command

Fort Campbell’s barrens is ghostly quiet with only the sound of wind circling through the grass. It holds secrets of the Native Americans who hunted this grassland more than 200 years ago.
Not only are the barrens in Fort Campbell’s training area an ecologically intriguing environment, they are an important part of the history of the Tennessee and Kentucky region. Hunters from tribes including the Chickasaw, Cherokee and Shawnee traveled four to five days to hunt bison and elk in the tall grass of the barrens.
Once the expedition was complete, the hunters returned to their tribes located in what is now Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.  


Ronald Grayson, cultural resources program manager, said it is unknown if the barrens of Fort Campbell were man-made by European settlers and Native Americans, or created by lightning strikes that sparked fires and cleared the land.   
“The question still out there is, ‘Was this area created by people or was it a natural development and the people just maintained it?’ We’re not really sure why this area is clear,” Grayson said. “Some say that lightning caused the barren area, while others say it was purposely burned and cleared to use as a hunting ground.”
According to an article from Fort Campbell’s cultural resources program, the barrens are a rather unique grassland ecosystem. The barrens belong to what was once a much larger area known as The Big Barrens that covered 3.7 million acres. The Big Barrens, which was a crescent-shaped area, spanned from the Ohio River toward Tennessee and west toward the Cumberland River. This crescent-shaped area was about 200 miles long and 20 miles wide. The area is now referred to by other names such as The Big Barrens of Kentucky, Kentucky Meadows or the Pennyroyal Plain Prairie.    
There are historical records that show Native Americans initially burned and cleared this area. At a minimum, however, researchers suspect people maintained the barrens for the purpose of hunting, Grayson said.
Daniel Moss, Fort Campbell avian ecologist, said the Fort Campbell environmental teams conduct controlled burning in the barrens on a regular basis.
“We work with the on-post forestry department on this and the grassland manager to look at fields and rotate the burning of the barren fields,” Moss said. “We put fire brakes around the fields prior to burning to contain the burn. After the burn, we return to the burnt field for reassessment. If you don’t burn this area, it will go to forest.”  
The overall purpose of the burning is to keep nonnative grasses and trees from growing in the barren fields. If nonnative elements in the barrens are allowed to thrive, the wildlife that calls the barrens home, such as the Henslow’s and Bachman’s sparrows would all but disappear, he said.
Moss has spotted rare wildlife within the barrens on more than one occasion.
“I have seen the white-tailed kite in the barrens,” he said. “It’s very rare to have that species here in the barrens.”


Other rare birds that have been spotted in the barrens include the Smith’s Longspur, Rough-legged Hawk, Upland Sandpiper and the Short-eared Owl.
Outside of the Fort Campbell footprint, there are very few, widely scattered remnants of the barrens – of the 3.7 million acres only about 100 remain.
There are four primary factors that have contributed to the loss of the original prairie-like landscape: cultivation, absence of regular fire, introduction of invasive species and development and construction, according to a cultural resource article. However, protected within Fort Campbell’s boundaries are 10,390 acres of land that provide the best remaining example of the barren landscape settlers first looked upon more than two centuries ago.
The barrens on Fort Campbell hold a rich history. According a cultural resources program article, it is the goal of Fort Campbell’s environmental and wildlife agencies is to maintain the barrens while allowing for continued military training.      
“Fort Campbell follows regularly updated plans to guide its management of natural resources like the barrens on post,” the article reads. “The plans balance requirements to support the military mission along with goals for sustaining a natural ecosystem and associated plants and wildlife.”

• Date Taken: 02.24.2017
• Date Posted: 01.04.2018 14:03
• Story ID: 260563
• Location: FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US