Abstract: In a forest community surrounding Mountain Lake Biological Station in the southern Appalachians , changes in forest composition have resulted from disturbances such as fire. In this study, species count data from ecological studies of forest vegetation near Mountain Lake Biological Station (MLBS) prior to 1945 were compared to present surveys of the same forests to estimate changes in species composition following a fire that occurred in 1929. The forest composition was studied using eight burned and two unburned stands, comparing burned and unburned sites. Changes in forest composition in 1941 and in 2007 were also compared. The sample sites were relocated and surveyed following the methods described in the original studies and also our own methods that were consistent between the studies. Significant differences were found in the composition of species present in 2007 with those in 1941, both in burned and unburned sites, and also with species in 1941 on burned and unburned sites (P<0.0001). The forest community studied has been changing over the past 66 years and has still remained significantly different.