Characteristic Plants Hemlock Forest These plants are frequently found in this community type. Those with an asterisk are State Rank S4 Diagnostics often diagnostic of this community. Hemlock is the dominant tree, occasionally Canopy Community Description co-dominant with red spruce, white pine, or Eastern hemlock* red maple; soils are typically not saturated; This closed canopy forest type is Paper birch sparse herbaceous and bryoid layers. dominated by hemlock (>50% cover) or, Red maple less often, hemlock is co-dominant with Red oak* red spruce, red oak, yellow birch, red Similar Types Red spruce* maple, or sugar maple (very rarely with White Pine - Mixed Conifer Forests have Sugar maple* northern white cedar, near the coast). more white pine than hemlock. Mixed White pine* White pine may be co-dominant in stands examples of this type can be transitional to Yellow birch* Hemlock Forest that are transitional, with pine giving way Beech - Birch - Maple Forests, but hemlock Sapling/shrub will have >33% cover. Hemlock - Hardwood considerably reduced mature, undisturbed American beech*

Hemlock Forest to hemlock in time. The conifer canopy examples of this type, yet poor market allows little light to reach below, and the Pocket Swamps have wetland soils and Herb conditions more recently have caused shrub, herb, and bryoid layers are sparse vegetation, red maple and/or black gum co- Canada mayflower hemlock to be left in partial harvests; (each usually <25%, and sometimes dominant with the hemlock, and more well many of these legacy trees are quite old. Bryoid absent altogether). Small conifers are developed shrub, herb, and bryoid layers. Some evidence suggests that hemlock is Dicranum moss present in the herb layer, as well as less successful at maintaining itself in the Three-lobed bazzania scattered individuals of typical upland Conservation, Wildlife, and face of human-caused disturbance than are conifer forest plants such as Canada Management Considerations northern hardwoods. Most sites known specialist bird species, such as the yellow- mayflower, starflower, Indian cucumber- Demand in the 1700s -1800s for hemlock to be of high ecological quality are in bellied flycatcher, black-throated green root, partridgeberry, wild sarsaparilla, southern and central Maine and lack formal warbler, blackburnian warbler, red crossbill, and wintergreen. Graminoids are rarely Location Map protection. Maintaining the surrounding and northern parula. very apparent. The ground layer is mostly lands as forest is important in conserving conifer litter, with spotty bryophyte cover. particular stands of this type, particularly Distribution given that many known examples are small Soil and Site Characteristics Statewide, less common northward; extends (<50 acres). in all directions from Maine. Hemlock forests are usually on slopes (typically 5-50%) and ravines, with well South of Maine, the hemlock woolly adelgid Landscape Pattern: Small to Large Patch drained loamy soil. On lower slopes (an introduced insect) has decimated and flats, soils may grade to imperfectly hemlock stands. It has recently been Examples on Conservation drained. Soils tend to be shallow (<50 documented in York County, and efforts are Lands You Can Visit cm) and acidic (pH 4.8-5.6). Sites are underway to limit its impact. • Cooper Brook, Appalachian Trail from sea level to 1200’ and often in cool – Piscataquis Co. microsites, although aspect varies. This community type may be used as nesting • Fourth Machias Lake, Duck Lake habitat by a number of coniferous forest Public Lands – Washington Co. • Little Concord Pond Public Lands – Oxford Co. • Magoon Pond Public Lands – Penobscot Co. • North Of Carlton Notch, White Mountain National – Oxford Co. • Scraggly Lake Public Lands – Penobscot Co • Squa Pan Mountain, Squa Pan Public Pin Cushion Moss Hemlock Branch with Cone Lands – Aroostook Co. Maine Natural Areas Program