Modeled Distributions of 12 Tree Species in New York

United States Department of Agriculture 10

Percent of Forest Land Area 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre 51 30

20 Modeled distributions 20

10 10

of 12 tree species in Percent of Forest Land Area Percent of Forest Land Area 0 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre Red Maple Acer rubrum New York Sugar Maple Yellow Birch Betula alleghaniensis Acer saccharum Rachel I. Riemann, Barry T. Wilson, Andrew J. Lister, Oren Cook, and Sierra Crane-Murdoch Copyright:© 2014 Esri

Copyright:© 2014 Esri Copyright:© 2014 Esri 66 Map Description These maps depict the distribution of 12 tree species across the state of New York. The maps show where these trees 46 do not occur (gray), occasionally occur (pale green), are a minor component (medium green), are a major component 20 (dark green), or are the dominant species (black) in the forest, as determined by that species’ total basal area. Basal area is the area of a cross-section of the trunk at 4.5 feet above ground (breast height). Basal area is a way of measuring 20 how dominant a particular species is in a stand because of the way large trees contribute more to the total basal area 10 than small trees. The map at the top of the circle (red maple) is the species with the greatest basal area in the state. All 10 other maps are generally arranged to group species that commonly occur together. Of the 105 tree species recorded in Percent of Forest Land Area 0 New York in the 2005-2009 inventories, the species presented here are the top 12 in the state by total basal area, and 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Percent of Forest Land Area 0 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre together represent 74 percent of the total live tree basal area and 75 percent of the number of trees in New York. The 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 center map shows where forest, nonforest, and water are present. In all maps, white is nonforest and water is blue. Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre Red Spruce Each map has an associated histogram in which the colors and the range of values they span serve both as the legend American Beech Picea rubens for interpreting the map and provide additional information about the distribution of that species in New York. Because Fagus grandifolia of the small pixel size of the data relative to the scale of the maps, the exact shade of green in the maps may appear to be a blend of classes in areas where pixels of many colors/classes occur close together. Below is a description of the 34 71 histogram corresponding to the red oak map. Copyright:© 2014 Esri

On 30% of the forested On 41% of the forested land You’ll see some of this area in Forest land in New York, there in New York, the forest is only the Adirondacks. 10 10 is no red oak. 0-5% red oak. Red oak occurs occasionally in these forests. Percent of Forest Land Area 0 Percent of Forest Land Area 0 If bars are larger than 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 the y-axis, its value is On 15+7+3=25% of the forested You’ll see some of this area around Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre 41 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre printed above the bar 30 land in New York, the forest has the edges of the Adirondacks, 5-20% red oak. Red oak is a minor Catskills, and Finger Lakes component in these forests.

The y-axis is percent of forest land. All On 3.8% of the forested You’ll see this in southern New York bars in the histogram 20 land in New York, the forest near New York City. add up to 100% of is 20-50% red oak. Red oak the forest land in is a major component in New York. these forests. On 0.1+0.1=0.2% of the forested You’ll see a small 10 land, the forest has more than 50% area of this on the A “stand” is a red oak. Red oak is the dominant northeastern edge Hemlock 0 25 50 100 Miles Balsam Fir group of trees that tree species in these forests. of the Catskills. Tsuga canadensis Abies balsamea

occur together at a Percent of Forest Land Area 0 50 100 200 Kilometers particular location. Species dominance 0 The x-axis extends to the limit found is measured by its 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 in the data. Here it shows that red percent of the total oak has not been found to occur in stand basal area. Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre New York at concentrations higher Copyright:© 2014 Esri Copyright:© 2014 Esri than 60%. Copyright:© 2014 Esri

38 51 You can see that some species, such as sugar maple, frequently occur in New York as a large proportion (>20%) or even a majority (>50%) of the forest stands in which it occurs (more areas in darkest green and black). Other species typically occupy less than 20 percent of the total tree basal area, either because of its tendency to be a minor stand component 20 in this region (e.g., quaking aspen) or because New York is at the edge of its natural range (e.g., northern red oak). 34

10 These maps are created from data that is part of a larger dataset covering the contiguous United States (Wilson et al. 20 2012). The data were modeled from tree data collected on U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Percent of Forest Land Area 0 field plots (4,864 plots in New York), in combination with vegetation phenology derived from MODIS satellite imagery, 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 climate data derived from daily surface weather data by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, topographic data from the 10 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre U.S. Geological Survey, and finer resolution tree canopy cover data derived from the National Land Cover Database,

which was produced by a consortium of federal agencies. Percent of Forest Land Area 0 Quaking Aspen 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Populus tremuloides Field data were collected during 2005-2009 by: Paul Natiella, Wayne Roell, Jonathan Porier, David Berger, Scott Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre Garber, John Minutilli, Christopher Coolbaugh, Anthony Olsen, Charles Butler, Casey Krogstad, Mark Peet, Matthew White Pine Pawlusik, Richard Grassetti, Michael Whitehill, Leland Swoger, Richard McCullough, Richard Starr, Karen Kubly, 57 and Adrienne Evans. Field data were processed and compiled by Carol Alerich, Chuck Barnett, Dale Gormanson, Mark Pinus strobus Hatfield, Barbara O’Connell, and Paul Sowers. Copyright:© 2014 Esri

20 Suggested Citation

Riemann, Rachel I.; Wilson, Barry T.; Lister, Andrew J.; Cook, Oren; Crane-Murdoch, Sierra. 2014. Modeled distributions Copyright:© 2014 Esri of 12 tree species in New York. Research Map NRS-5. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 10 41 Service, Northern Research Station. [map; ~ 1:3,900,000]. 47 30

Percent of Forest Land Area 0 For more information, contact: 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Barry Wilson ([email protected]) or Rachel Riemann ([email protected]) 20 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre 20

Leaf images by Linda Ellis, Galena, MO. 10 10

The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Percent of Forest Land Area Percent of Forest Land Area 0 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre Percent of Stand Basal Area per Acre White Ash Northern Red Oak Fraxinus americana Black Cherry Quercus rubra Prunus serotina

Manuscript received for publication Methods: May 2014 The tree species distributions were modeled at a 250-m grid cell size using imputation and canonical correspondence analysis techniques. Much of the species Modeled distributions Published by covariance found on the forest inventory plots is retained in the datasets, which USDA Forest Service means that each grid cell in the modeled datasets contains close to the same mix of 12 tree species in Northern Research Station and proportion of species as found on the ground in the field data. Regionwide 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200 and neighborhood accuracy assessment results are available in Wilson et al. Newtown Square, PA 19073 (2012), and are associated with each species in the online database (Wilson et al. New York September 2014 2013). In addition, we are currently working on methods to calculate measures of per-pixel model uncertainty to accompany the datasets. Rachel I. Riemann, Barry T. Wilson, Andrew J. Lister, Oren Cook, For additional copies: and Sierra Crane-Murdoch USDA Forest Service Dataset Reference: Publications Distribution Wilson, B.T.; Lister, A.J.; Riemann, R.I.; Griffith, D.M. 2013. Live tree species Map Description 359 Main Road basal area of the contiguous United States (2000-2009). Newtown Square, PA: These maps depict the distribution of 12 tree species across the state of New York. The maps show where these trees do not occur Delaware, OH 43015 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. (gray), occasionally occur (pale green), are a minor component (medium green), are a major component (dark green), or are the Fax: 740-368-0152 [GIS database]. http://dx.doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0013. dominant species (black) in the forest, as determined by that species’ total basal area. Basal area is the area of a cross-section Email: [email protected] of the trunk at 4.5 feet above ground (breast height). Basal area is a way of measuring how dominant a particular species is in References: a stand because of the way large trees contribute more to the total basal area than small trees. The map at the top of the circle Visit our website: Wilson, B.T.; Lister, A.J.; Riemann, R.I. 2012. A nearest-neighbor imputation (red maple) is the species with the greatest basal area in the state. All other maps are arranged to group species that commonly www.nrs.fs.fed.us approach to mapping tree species over large areas using forest inventory plots and occur together. Of the 105 tree species recorded in New York in the 2005-2009 inventories, the species presented here are the moderate resolution raster data. Forest Ecology and Management. 271:182–198. top 12 in the state by total basal area, and together represent 74 percent of the total live tree basal area and 75 percent of the number of trees in New York. Map Disclaimer This product is reproduced from geospatial information prepared by the The Authors U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Geographic Information Rachel I. Riemann is a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, in Troy, NY. System (GIS) data and product accuracy may vary. They may be developed Barry T. “Ty” Wilson is a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station in St. Paul, MN. from sources of differing accuracy, accurate only at certain scales, based Andrew J. Lister is a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station, in Newtown Square, PA. on modeling or interpretation, or incomplete while being created or revised. Oren Cook is a former intern for the U.S. Forest Service and is currently a stewardship assistant at the Agricultural Stewardship Using GIS products for purposes other than those for which they were Association in Greenwich, NY. Sierra Crane-Murdoch is a former mapping technician for the U.S. Forest Service and currently created may yield inaccurate or misleading results. The Forest Service is a freelance writer in Berkeley, CA. reserves the right to correct, update, modify or replace GIS products without notification. The use of trade, firm, corporation, or association names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader and does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of any product or service.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of pro- gram information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Forest Service Northern Research Map Publication Date Research Station NRS-5 September 2014