New England–Acadian forests

The New England-Acadian forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion in North America that includes a variety of habitats on the hills, mountains and plateaus of New England and New York State in the Northeastern United States, and Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.
In eastern Canada, there is a minor movement to refer to this forest type as the Wabanaki forest in recognition of the area's indigenous inhabitants, who did not cede or surrender their traditional territories in the region when the Acadians and New Englanders arrived.

Climate

This ecoregion has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters.

Setting

This ecoregion is bordered by the oak-dominated Northeastern coastal forests on the coastal plain to the south, the Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests on the coasts and islands of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and to the north and northeast the Eastern forest-boreal transition and the Eastern Canadian forests. There is also a disjunct patch of forest-boreal transition on the Adirondack Mountains.
In Canada, the New England-Acadian forests ecoregion includes the Eastern Townships and Beauce regions of southern Quebec, half of New Brunswick and most of Nova Scotia, and in the United States, the North Country of New York State, most of Maine, the Lake Champlain and the Champlain Valley of Vermont, the uplands and coastal plain of New Hampshire, northwestern Massachusetts, and ends down in the highlands of extreme northwestern portion of Connecticut. This entire area is sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Northeast. Specific areas include the Bay of Fundy coast, northern Appalachian Mountains including the uplands and the Saint [John River (Bay of Fundy)|Saint John River valley] of New Brunswick and the highlands of the Nova Scotia peninsula with the highest peaks being the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
The climate consists of warm summers and cold snowy winters with the Atlantic Ocean bringing rain all year round. The seaboard lowlands of this region, which extends to mid-coastal Maine, exhibits a more mild climate and has somewhat distinct vegetation in which hardwoods play a more important role.

Flora

The forests of this area were radically cleared for agricultural land by the 19th century and then renewed as many of these farms were abandoned following the migration westward. Today the area is largely a mosaic of habitats influenced locally by micro-climatic differences. Essentially, there are four important community types which show considerable diversity and blending across this physiographic province. These communities are: alpine communities on the highest mountains, coniferous forests, northern hardwood forests, and wetlands. There are no clear boundaries between the coniferous forests and the hardwood forests in the New England-Acadian ecoregion. The prevalence in the canopy of red pine and red spruce distinguish the transition forests of New England from those in the Great Lakes region to the west.
The vegetation of the New England and Maritime Appalachian Highlands is similar throughout the Nova Scotia highlands including the Cobequid Hills and the Pictou-Antigonish Highlands on the mainland and the Cape Breton Highlands, the Chaleur Uplands of New Brunswick, the New England Uplands, the White Mountains and Mont Mégantic on the New Hampshire/Quebec border, the Green Mountains of Vermont and their southern extension the Sutton Mountains, and the Taconic Mountains. Some of western Vermont is in the Adirondack province, but generally exhibits similar vegetation.
Areas of particular interest include areas of serpentine rocks, peat bog and fen.

Alpine communities

communities are essentially regions of Arctic tundra, or treeless tundra-like communities. These are restricted to the tops of mountains that reach above the tree line, about 1300 metres.
Mountaintops of Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island may have minor alpine biota, krumholtz and other aspects, as do many other smaller isolated peaks throughout the region. Full-blown alpine communities are found on Washington (New Hampshire)|Washington] and the other White Mountains of New Hampshire and on Mount Katahdin in Maine. Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula, vegetatively similar to Maine and New Brunswick, also has extensive treeless uplands—which are rare in the region.
These tall mountains serve as refugia for arctic plants left over from the retreat of the Laurentide glacier at the end of the last ice age. The truest alpine tundra communities are located on the harsh western and northwestern slopes of tall mountains. The western slopes are typically heath dominated communities composed of plant of the family Ericaceae, changing to grasses and sedges toward the harsher northwestern faces. Common dominant components of the heaths are alpine bilberry and mountain cranberry.

Coniferous forests

ous forests are found in the White Mountain regions and the northern parts of New England Uplands, primarily the middle interior of Maine and northwards and especially in areas between 1300 metres and 900 metres feet
) elevation. It is also found on parts of the Fundy coast in Maine and the Maritimes, the northern parts of this ecoregion where the summers are cool. The coniferous forest goes by many names, including: Boreal forest, fir-spruce forest, the North Woods, and the taiga. It is noted in New England for its "harsh" conditions such as cold, subarctic temperatures, a short growing period, sandy-gravely acidic soil, and a high rate of leeching of nutrients out of the soil. It is also noted for a high rate of precipitation, year round, as rain and snow, which contributes to much of the leeching.
The dominant canopy species of this area include red pine, balsam fir, paper birch, red spruce, which northwards, is replaced by white spruce. Also present are jack pine, and white pine which is found in areas of richer soil in the lower elevations of this forest. The presence of paper birch, a successional species, is often an indication of past disturbances such as fire or logging in the forest.
Typical woody understory and shrub layer species include moosewood, low-bush blueberry and other heath species, especially the genera Gaylussacia and Vaccinium.
Woody plants of the ground cover layer include American wintergreen and partridge berry. Common wildflowers include star flower, bluebead Lilly, foam flower, bunchberry, twinflower, dewdrops, wild sarsaparilla, and Canada mayflower. Trilliums, and yellow lady slippers are also common showy wildflowers. The herbaceous layer also includes many mosses, lichens, and ferns. Bracken fern is often particularly abundant in these communities.

Northern hardwood forests

These forests also go by the names: hemlock-northern hardwoods, and mixed forests. The northern hardwoods are located in the seaboard lowlands and south of the coniferous forests, but there is considerable blending of the two communities. These forests are typical of elevations below 700 m. Elements of these communities mix extensively with coniferous forest elements between 700 m and 900 m, and also from mid-latitude Vermont and New Hampshire north to central Maine where coniferous forest elements begin to dominate. Typically the richer the soils, and the more temperate the climate, the more dominant hardwoods will be. This forest type is considered the northern extension of the mixed mesophytic deciduous forest.
The four dominant canopy species of the hemlock-northern hardwood forests are sugar maple, beech, yellow birch and hemlock. Other common canopy associates include white ash, red maple, and northern red oak, which becomes less and less common northwards, dropping out almost entirely by mid-Vermont, New Hampshire, and inland Maine. White oak is also an important canopy species in southern New England's seaboard lowlands. White pine and red pine, are also an important part of this mixed forest. The pioneer trees of this forest are quaking aspen and paper birch.

Wetlands

are defined anywhere by an abundance of water, hydric soils, and a unique flora. The wetland of the New England area exhibit considerable diversity across the range and elevations within the three category: bogs, swamps, and bottomlands. Swamps and bogs are specific habitats whereas bottomlands are any moist area including riparian zones, lake and pond banks, and the moist area surrounding bogs, marshes and swamps.

Bogs

Bogs are wetland areas, characterized by acid hydric soils composed of peat. Bogs can occur at any elevation in this ecoregion. They are often sphagnum heath areas dominated by shrubs in the family Ericaceae including: leather leaf, bog rosemary, Labrador tea, bog laurel, and American cranberry bushes. Throughout New England these areas are often artificially made for cranberry monocultures by commercial farms. Common components of the herb layer in bogs includes the carnivorous plants: round-leaved sundew, and pitcher plant. Other common herbs of the poor soils of bogs include false mayflower, and some orchids, particularly, bog candles. The most common trees that invade bogs as they fill in are black spruce, northern white cedar, larch and black ash.

Swamps

Swamps are typically characterized by hydric soils and have more of a canopy than bogs. The most characteristic trees of southern and low altitude New England swamps are hemlock, northern white cedar, tamarack, balsam poplar, red maple, atlantic white cedar, tupelo and black ash. Often cool, moist shaded ravines are dominated by pure stands of hemlocks in this range. In northern and high altitude swamps of New England the dominant canopy species change to tamarack, black spruce and balsam fir. The understory across the range consists of a number of Viburnum species, among others.

Bottomlands

The bottomlands and margin areas in the northern hardwood communities are primarily dominated by: red maple, balsam poplar, black ash, eastern cottonwood, and the silver maple. The bottomlands and margin areas of the coniferous forests consist of: red maple, silver maple, white cedar, and balsam poplar. In wet areas throughout the region many sub-canopy species of willow occur, as does speckled alder, which is very common.

Fauna

The region is home to a variety of wildlife, including American black bears, eastern moose, white-tailed deer, eastern coyotes, red foxes, gray fox, snowshoe hares, bobcats, Canada lynx, North American porcupines, North [American river otter]s, fishers, North American beavers, American martens, muskrats, raccoons, Virginia opossums, and endemic New England cottontails. The forests are habitat for wild turkey, mallard duck, wood duck, great horned owl, and a great number of passerine birds. The area is particularly important as a feeding ground for birds migrating on the Atlantic Flyway. The region is home to reptiles such as bog turtles, common snapping turtles, common box turtles, painted turtles, and timber rattlesnakes. Animal species or subspecies that once roamed the region are the eastern wolf, eastern cougar, Allegheny woodrat, sea mink, wolverine, passenger pigeon, heath hen, boreal woodland caribou, and the eastern elk, all of which were wiped out from the region after the arrival of European settlers.

Threats and preservation

This forest has been radically altered over centuries by clearance for agriculture, mining and urban development including Halifax, Nova Scotia and summer homes in Quebec. Today only about 5% of the forest remains in its natural state. Logging is still a major industry in some parts, especially Maine and Quebec and agriculture is still extensive in western New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Vermont.
Notable areas of remaining forest include: