Characteristic Plants Spruce - Northern Hardwoods Forest These plants are frequently found in this community type. Those with an asterisk are State Rank S5 Diagnostics often diagnostic of this community. Sites are distinguished by a mixture of red Canopy Community Description spruce and northern hardwoods (most Balsam fir This mixed forest type is characterized often yellow birch) in the canopy; conifer Red spruce* by red spruce and yellow birch, or and deciduous components exceed 25% White pine* less often another hardwood (sugar cover each. Yellow birch* maple, red maple, or beech). Scattered Sapling/shrub large supercanopy white pine trees are Similar Types American beech occasional. Balsam fir and paper birch Beech - Birch - Maple Forests are more Three-lobed Bazzania Balsam fir* are common, typically as smaller trees, strongly deciduous. Spruce - fir forest types spruce has been selectively removed. As a Hobblebush* and hemlock may be an associate at some can be similar but have <25% cover of result, the canopies of such sites are more Mountain maple* sites. The sapling/shrub layer may be northern hardwood species. Both of these often indicative of Beech - Birch - Maple Red maple fairly well developed (20-40% cover), with types can be contiguous with this type and Forests, with spruce and fir more common Red spruce* striped maple and saplings of canopy may intergrade with it. in the understory than in the canopy. Sites Striped maple* species; shrub species vary among sites. with relatively little human disturbance are Yellow birch The herb layer ranges from sparse to Conservation, Wildlife, and rare but are moderately well represented on Herb dense but is usually >15% cover, divided Management Considerations conservation lands. Northern wood-sorrel between forbs, ferns, and regenerating Nearly all forests of this type have been Spinulose wood fern* trees, with dwarf shrubs virtually absent. harvested in the past, and at many sites the This type provides nesting habitat for a Starflower The bryoid layer is patchy and locally large number of passerine bird species, Bryoid including sharp-shinned hawk, Cape well developed, with bryophytes far more Location Map Dicranum moss abundant than lichens. As is typical May warbler, black-throated blue warbler, Flat-tufted feather-moss in mesic forests in Maine, three-lobed black-throated green warbler, Blackburnian Pincushion moss

Spruce - Northern Hardwoods Forest bazzania is a frequent bryophyte. warbler, scarlet tanager, spruce grouse, Three-lobed bazzania Swainson’s thrush, northern parula, and Soil and Site Characteristics ovenbird. The globally uncommon early Associated Rare Plants These forests occur on cooler microsites hairstreak butterfly uses beech as its larval Giant rattlesnake-plantain from near sea level to 2200’. They are host plant. Associated Rare Animals usually on hillslopes, ranging from lower Early hairstreak to upper slopes and from gentle to steep Distribution (up to 50%). The soils are typically well Most characteristic of the New England drained, sometimes somewhat excessively - Adirondack Province, and extending Examples on Conservation drained, sandy to loamy in texture, with westward from Maine; found to a lesser Lands You Can Visit pH 5.0-5.4. extent in the Laurentian Mixed Forest • Big Reed Pond Preserve – Piscataquis Province. Co. • Black Mountain, Mahoosuc Public Landscape Pattern: Matrix. This type is Lands – Oxford Co. intended to represent forests that are truly • Chamberlain Lake Public Lands ‘mixed’ at a stand scale, rather than large – Piscataquis Co. blocks containing a mosaic of distinct • Cranberry Brook, Moosehorn conifer and hardwood stands. For the National Wildlife – Washington Co. latter example, the ‘Spruce – Northern • Western Mountain, Acadia National Hardwood Forest Ecosysystem’ is a more Park – Hancock Co. appropriate mapping unit. Balsam Fir Maine Natural Areas Program