Northeastern Forest Cover Types

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Northeastern Forest Cover Types

• Based on Eyre, F.H. 1980. Forest Cover Types
  of the United States and Canada. Society of
  American Foresters. Washington, D.C.

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Eastern Forest Cover Types
Northern Hardwoods 27. Sugar Maple
25. Sugar Maple-Beech-Yellow Birch
26. Sugar Maple-Basswood 60. Beech-Sugar
Maple 108. Red Maple
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family Aceraceae, the maple family genus MAPLE
ACER (Acer Latin name for maple) Keys Farrar
pp 420, 422, 423. Also comparison sheets in the
Forests of Maine Maine Forest Service field
guide -Leaves deciduous, opposite, usually
simple (except box-elder) , palmately lobed and
veined. -fruit a double-winged samara -maples
are a major component of many northern forests.
Worldwide, there are over 100 species of maple in
the North Temperate zone, many in eastern Asia.
-There are 13 species native to North America,
varying in size from shrubs to large trees.
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Wildlife eat many parts of the maple buds,
twig, leaf, sap, seed, bark. An important food
for snowshoe hare, chipmunk, squirrels, deer,
moose, beaver, black bear, ruffed grouse, wild
turkey, nuthatch, grosbeaks, etc.
Wildlife Use
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Sugar versus Norway Maple How do you tell them
apart? Seeds Norway usually larger and widely
divergent spread angle (approx. 180 degrees)
between paired samara wings Petiole Milky sap on
end of petiole on Norway Maple Bark regularly
furrowed on Norway smooth fissured when young
and rough, deeply furrowed on older sugar
maple Terminal bud Norway is usually larger and
blunt, where sugar maple terminal bud is pointed
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Only a few genera have opposite leaves Here is a
memory aide or mnemonic MADCap Horse Maple,
Ash, Dogwood, Caprifoliliaceae (e.g., viburnums)
and Horse Chestnut (Aesculus)
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The northern hardwood stands of New England have
been providing firewood, pulpwood, furniture,
flooring, implement handles, baskets, and
beautiful veneer for over 200 years.
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Can get maple sap from red and silver maple in
addition to sugar maple
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Eastern Forest Cover Types

• Boreal Forest Region
• Boreal Hardwoods
• 16. Aspen
• 17. Pin Cherry
• 18. Paper Birch

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Aspen-Birch Pioneer Species Disturbed Sites
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Regeneration Waves
Disturbance is Everywhere and Continual
Wildfire
Timber Harvest
Beaver Ponds
Spring Floods
Road Building
Broken Dam
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Many creatures depend upon disturbances and the
plants that follow.
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The distribution of ruffed grouse almost exactly
mirrors that of quaking aspen Grouse management
guidelines for the Lake States have emphasized
even-aged management of aspen on short rotations.

Management that affords a perpetual supply of
several age classes of early successional
hardwoods also benefits many other vertebrate
species.
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Habitat loss due to aging forests and fields plus
the continual conversion of farms and forests to
homes and shopping malls have driven woodcock
populations into a steady, 2 decade long, -3
per year decline.
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The Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in eastern
Maine discovered that the declining populations
of woodcock in the Atlantic flyway could be
helped with forest practices that favored species
of the young forest (ie.clearcuts). Fire was
the tool of choice for killing softwood
regeneration, favoring early successional
hardwoods and for maintaining grassy openings.
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family SALICACEAE, the Willow family -includes
two genera, the willows (Salix) and poplars
(Populus) -over 4000 species (mostly Salix) of
shrubs and trees, mostly in cool areas in the
northern hemisphere. Because the seeds of these
trees are small and short-lived, and require
abundant water for germination, these species
usually regenerate in areas that are quite moist
during the period of seed dispersal. Many of
the species also regenerate readily from root
sprouts or from rooted cuttings. Generally
intolerant, fast-growing, short-lived species.
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Maine has many willows, but this is a large and
difficult group to identify. The Revised
Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Maine, 1995
shows 58 native and exotic species, varieties,
and hybrids present in the State. All willows
have the following characteristics in common
Buds are covered with a single, cap-like scale
with silky, gray hairs beneath the scale. Willows
do not have true terminal buds and the side buds
are usually pressed close to the twig Leaves are
alternate, mostly narrow, and the petioles are
short or lacking. Flowers occur in catkins.
Fruits consist of small, usually two-valved
capsules filled with silky hairs which are
attached to the seeds. Uses Another interesting
tidbit about willows is the origin of aspirin
from willow bark.  The technical name for aspirin
is "acetylsalicylic acid".  The "salic" refers to
"Salix", which is the latin name for willow.
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POPULUS, the poplars 40 species worldwide, 6 in
N.Am that are of commercial importance. Many
poplar species hybridize easily, making
identification of some trees difficult. Only 3
important native species occur in our region.
Hybrid poplars may include crosses between
many species and are commercially planted for
wood production and ornamental purposes. Imperfec
t flowers are pendulous catkins which appear
before the leaves in spring dioecious
wind-pollinated Keys to the poplars Farrar p
41, 443