Abstract:A growing need for long-term condition and trend information across natural and anthropogenic landscapes is promoting interest in long-term permanent plot research. In this review, we introduced the 76-year history of management and research on forest dynamics in the Duke Forest, NC. This forest has been intensively studied since the early 1930s and has become a model system for ecologic al and environmental education and research in the eastern United States. We summarize and assess research in the Duke Forest on forest environment, the current network of long-term permanent vegetation plots, survey protocols, data management procedures, and major research findings from those long-term plot data. We also summarize more broadly the current status of long-term research on the natural dynamics of Piedmont forests of the southeastern United States. Lessons learned from the Duke Forest research site could inform the design of a world-wide, long-term network of research plots for monitoring and assessment of forest dynamics and trends in species composition and biodiversity.