A bird breeding census first surveyed the tract in 1947; the density of Forest Interior Dwelling Species (FIDS) was then found to be 300 pairs/100 acres (1300 m2 per pair).

Belt was descended from 17th-century settlers in Prince George's County and owned 3,200 acres on six farms including these woods.

[2] Tom Horton, in his book Bay Country (1987), tells how this happened: The bank entrusted with administering Seton Belt's estate, and the church to which he left his goods, found that the forest earned the highest accolades not just from naturalists and woodland songbirds.

"Veneer quality", eager buyers from the world's leading timber concerns adjudged the massive, knot-free, straight trunks of the oaks.

Debarked, steamed until soft, then sliced and peeled on huge machines into sheets just 1/4-inch thick, just a few of the Beltwoods giants would decorate acres of executive conference-room walls in warm wood tones.

"The only thing left for that particular stand of trees to do was to die and fall over", he said[3]This event served as a wakeup call to conservationists and an 18-year legal battle ensued between them and the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Impending residential development necessitated the state's purchase of an additional 515 acres (2.08 km2) in 1997 — known as the Belt Woods Heritage Conservation Fund site.

The canopy of the mesic upland hardwood forest at Belt Woods is dominated by tulip poplar and white oak.