Natural Community Systems of New Hampshire: Terrestrial
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Natural Community Systems of New Hampshire Daniel D. Sperduto New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau DRED – Division of Forests & Lands PO Box 1856 – 172 Pembroke Road, Concord, NH 03302-1856 (603) 271-2214 The New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau is located within the NH Department of Resources and Economic Development’s Division of Forests and Lands. Primarily an information resource, the bureau finds, tracks, and facilitates the protection of New Hampshire's rare plants and exemplary natural communities. It is not a regulatory agency; instead, the bureau works with landowners and land managers to help them protect New Hampshire's natural heritage and meet their land-use needs. Its mission, as mandated by the Native Plant Protection Act of 1987 (NH RSA 217-A), is to determine protective measures and requirements for the survival of native plant species in the state, to investigate the condition and rarity of plant species, and to distribute information regarding the condition and protection of these species and their habitats. The New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau is an excellent source of information on plants and natural communities in New Hampshire, including their ecology and distribution in the state. It maintains the state’s only comprehensive database of New Hampshire’s exemplary natural communities, rare plants, and rare animals, including their known locations. Rare wildlife locations are maintained in cooperation with the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, which has legal authority over all wildlife in the state. The bureau is also a member of the NatureServe network, which connects nearly 80 Natural Heritage Programs throughout the United States, Canada, and several Latin and South American countries. On the web: http://www.nhdfl.org/about-forests-and-lands/bureaus/natural-heritage-bureau/ 2nd edition, June 2011 (1st edition, December, 2005) © 2011, 2005 by the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau. All rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary .............................................................................................................................................. iv Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Classification of upland natural community systems .......................................................................... 6 OPEN TO WOODLAND SYSTEMS ON BEDROCK- OR SAND-CONTROLLED LANDSCAPES ............................ 6 Alpine and subalpine habitats.......................................................................................................... 6 • Alpine tundra system ....................................................................................................... 6 • Alpine ravine/snowbank system ....................................................................................... 9 • Subalpine heath - krummholz/rocky bald system .............................................................11 Rocky ridges, cliffs, and talus slopes ...............................................................................................14 • Montane - subalpine cliff system .....................................................................................14 • Montane rocky ridge system............................................................................................16 • Montane talus slope system .............................................................................................18 • Temperate ridge - cliff - talus system ..............................................................................20 Sand plains (with a history of frequent fire) ....................................................................................23 • Pitch pine sand plain system ............................................................................................23 Coastal sand dunes and rocky shores .............................................................................................26 • Coastal sand dune system ................................................................................................26 • Maritime rocky shore system ..........................................................................................29 PRIMARILY FOREST AND WOODLAND SYSTEMS ON TILL, FLUVIAL, TALUS, OR ROCKY SUBSTRATES .....32 Matrix Forests (on till, sand plain, and other fluvial materials with an infrequent fire history) .......32 • Lowland spruce - fir forest/swamp system .......................................................................33 • High-elevation spruce - fir forest system .........................................................................35 • Northern hardwood - conifer forest system ......................................................................38 • Hemlock - hardwood - pine forest system ........................................................................41 • Appalachian oak - pine forest system ..............................................................................44 Rich hardwood forests (on till, rocky, or terrace substrates) ...........................................................46 • Rich mesic forest system .................................................................................................46 • Rich temperate rocky woods system ................................................................................49 • Rich Appalachian oak rocky woods system .....................................................................51 Classification of wetland natural community systems ........................................................................53 PALUSTRINE (NON-TIDAL, NON-RIPARIAN) .........................................................................................53 Peatlands .......................................................................................................................................53 Open oligotrophic peatlands .......................................................................................................54 • Alpine/subalpine bog system ...........................................................................................54 • Kettle hole bog system ....................................................................................................57 • Poor level fen/bog system ...............................................................................................59 Open minerotrophic peatlands (weakly to strongly minerotrophic) ..............................................61 • Medium level fen system ................................................................................................61 • Montane sloping fen system ............................................................................................64 • Patterned fen system .......................................................................................................66 NH Natural Heritage Bureau i • Calcareous sloping fen system.........................................................................................68 Oligotrophic peat swamps ..........................................................................................................70 • Black spruce peat swamp system .....................................................................................70 • Coastal conifer peat swamp system .................................................................................72 • Temperate peat swamp system ........................................................................................74 Minerotrophic peat swamps ........................................................................................................76 • Montane/near-boreal minerotrophic peat swamp system ..................................................76 Primarily mineral soil wetlands ......................................................................................................79 Minerotrophic mineral swamps (weakly to strongly minerotrophic) ............................................79 • Temperate minerotrophic swamp system .........................................................................79 • Forest seep/seepage forest system ...................................................................................82 Open-basin and streamside wetlands ...........................................................................................84 • Drainage marsh - shrub swamp system ............................................................................84 Sand plain pond shore and basin marshes ...................................................................................87 • Sandy pond shore system ................................................................................................87 • Sand plain basin marsh system ........................................................................................89 RIPARIAN (NON-TIDAL) ......................................................................................................................91 River channels (and associated riverbanks and open floodplains) ...................................................91 • Low-gradient silty-sandy riverbank system .....................................................................92 • Moderate-gradient sandy-cobbly riverbank system ..........................................................94 • High-gradient rocky riverbank system .............................................................................96