AAMU Chase Properties

About This Property

The AAMU Chase Properties are Alabama A&M University-owned land with significant conservation management potential. Described as overgrown, these properties represent a classic example of fire-excluded Cumberland Plateau forest — land that has undergone decades of canopy closure without the disturbance needed to maintain open woodland structure and diverse understory vegetation.

Conservation Management

Management planning for Chase focuses on restoring open woodland character through:

• Timber stand improvement — selective removal of red maple, sweetgum, and other fire-sensitive species that have encroached following fire exclusion; favoring native oaks, hickories, and shortleaf pine
• Prescribed burning — reintroducing fire once TSI creates adequate fuel structure to carry low-intensity understory burns
• Invasive species management — controlling Chinese privet, Japanese honeysuckle, and other invasives that have established in the degraded understory
• Wildlife habitat enhancement — creating habitat diversity for interior forest birds, white-tailed deer, and other native wildlife

Educational Role

As an AAMU property, Chase has potential as a teaching and demonstration site for forest management practices applicable across the Cumberland Plateau region.

Location

Madison County, North Alabama — an Alabama A&M University holding.