New England–Acadian forests facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New England-Acadian forests |
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| Ecology | |
| Realm | Nearctic |
| Biome | Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests |
| Borders | Eastern Canadian forests, Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests, Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests and Northeastern coastal forests |
| Bird species | 219 |
| Mammal species | 58 |
| Geography | |
| Area | 237,600 km2 (91,700 sq mi) |
| Countries | Canada and United States |
| States/Provinces | |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Critical/Endangered |
| Habitat loss | 4.2% |
| Protected | 26.8% |
The New England-Acadian forests are a type of forest found in North America. This special area has many different kinds of natural places. You can find it on the hills, mountains, and flat areas of New England in the Northeastern United States. It also stretches into Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.
Contents
Climate and Location
This forest region has a humid continental climate. This means it has warm summers and cold, snowy winters. The Atlantic Ocean brings rain all year round.
Where are these forests?
These forests are next to other forest types. To the south, they meet the Northeastern coastal forests. These southern forests have many oak trees. To the north and northeast, they border the Eastern forest–boreal transition and the Eastern Canadian forests. There's also a small, separate part of this forest type in the Adirondack Mountains.
In Canada, these forests cover southern Quebec, half of New Brunswick, and most of Nova Scotia. In the United States, they are in northwestern Connecticut, northwestern Massachusetts, and parts of Vermont. They also cover the uplands and coastal plain of New Hampshire and almost all of Maine. This whole area is sometimes called the Atlantic Northeast.
Important spots include the Bay of Fundy coast and the northern Appalachian Mountains. The White Mountains in New Hampshire are the highest peaks here.
Plants of the Forest (Flora)
Long ago, by the 1800s, much of this forest was cut down. People used the land for farming. Later, many farms were left empty as people moved west. This allowed the forests to grow back. Today, the area is a mix of different habitats. These habitats are shaped by small local weather differences and natural events like fires.
There are four main types of plant communities in this region. They are:
- Alpine communities (on high mountains)
- Coniferous forests (with cone-bearing trees)
- Northern hardwood forests (with trees that lose their leaves)
- Wetlands (very wet areas)
It's not always clear where one type of forest ends and another begins. The presence of red pine and red spruce helps tell these forests apart from similar ones further west.
The plants in the New England and Maritime Appalachian Highlands are quite similar. This includes areas like the Cape Breton Highlands and the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Some special areas have unique plants. These include places with serpentine rocks, peat bogs, and fens.
Alpine Communities
Alpine communities are like small parts of the Arctic tundra. They are treeless areas found on mountain tops above the tree line. This is usually around 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) high.
You can find these communities on Mount Washington and other White Mountains in New Hampshire. They are also on Mount Katahdin in Maine. These tall mountains are like safe spots for arctic plants. These plants were left behind when the huge Laurentide glacier melted after the last ice age.
The toughest alpine areas are on the western slopes of tall mountains. These areas are mostly covered by heath plants. These plants are from the Ericaceae family. As you move to harsher northwestern faces, you find more grasses and sedges. Common heath plants include alpine bilberry and mountain cranberry.
Coniferous Forests
Coniferous forests have trees that produce cones, like pine and spruce. They are found in the White Mountain regions and northern Maine. They grow mostly between 900 and 1,300 meters (2,953 to 4,265 feet) high. You can also find them along the Fundy coast where summers are cool.
These forests are also called Boreal forests or fir-spruce forests. They are known for cold, subarctic temperatures and a short growing season. The soil is sandy, gravelly, and acidic. It also loses nutrients easily. There is a lot of rain and snow all year, which washes nutrients out of the soil.
The main trees in these forests are red pine, balsam fir, paper birch, and red spruce. Further north, white spruce takes over from red spruce. You can also find jack pine and white pine. White pine grows in richer soil at lower elevations. Paper birch often shows that the forest has been disturbed in the past by fire or logging.
Smaller plants and shrubs here include moosewood and low-bush blueberry. Other common plants are American wintergreen and partridge berry. Many wildflowers grow here too, like star flower and bluebead lily. The ground is also covered with many mosses, lichens, and ferns.
Northern Hardwood Forests
These forests are also called hemlock-northern hardwoods or mixed forests. They are found in the lowlands near the coast and south of the coniferous forests. However, these two forest types often mix together. Hardwood trees are more common where the soil is richer and the climate is milder. This forest type is the northern part of the mixed deciduous forest.
The four main trees in these forests are sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, and hemlock. Other common trees include white ash, red maple, and northern red oak. White oak is also important in southern New England. White pine and red pine are also a big part of this mixed forest. The first trees to grow after a disturbance are quaking aspen and paper birch.
Wetlands
Wetlands are areas with lots of water, special wet hydric soils, and unique plants. The wetlands in New England are very diverse. They include bogs, swamps, and bottomlands. Bottomlands are any moist areas, like riverbanks or lake shores.
Bogs
Bogs are wetlands with acidic hydric soils made of peat. They can be found at any height in this region. Bogs often have sphagnum moss and many shrubs from the Ericaceae family. These include leather leaf, bog rosemary, and Labrador tea. Many bogs in New England are now used as cranberry farms.
Some cool carnivorous plants grow in bogs, like round-leaved sundew and pitcher plant. Other common plants include false mayflower and some orchids. Trees like black spruce, northern white cedar, and larch often start to grow in bogs as they fill in.
Swamps
Swamps also have hydric soils, but they usually have more trees forming a canopy than bogs. In southern New England, common swamp trees are hemlock, northern white cedar, and tamarack. You can also find balsam poplar, red maple, and black ash. Sometimes, cool, shady ravines are filled only with hemlock trees. In northern swamps, the main trees are tamarack, black spruce, and balsam fir.
Bottomlands
Bottomlands are wet areas near rivers, lakes, or the edges of swamps. In the northern hardwood areas, these spots are mostly home to red maple, balsam poplar, black ash, and silver maple. In the coniferous forest areas, you'll find red maple, silver maple, white cedar, and balsam poplar. Many types of willow trees and speckled alder also grow in wet areas throughout the region.
Animals of the Forest (Fauna)
This region is home to many wild animals. You might see black bears, moose, and white-tailed deer. Other animals include coyotes, red foxes, and snowshoe hares. There are also bobcats, porcupines, and river otters. You might spot a fisher, beaver, marten, muskrat, or raccoon.
The forests are also home to many birds. These include wild turkeys, mallard ducks, wood ducks, and great horned owls. Many small passerine birds live here too. This area is very important for birds that migrate along the Atlantic Flyway. Bog turtles live in the peatlands of western Massachusetts.
Some animals that used to live here are now gone. These include the gray wolf, the eastern cougar, and the eastern elk. They disappeared from the region after European settlers arrived.
Challenges and Protection
Over hundreds of years, this forest has changed a lot. People cleared land for farming, mining, and building cities like Halifax. They also built summer homes in Quebec. Today, only about 5% of the forest is still in its natural state.
Logging is still a big business in some areas, especially Maine and Quebec. Farming is also still common in western New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Vermont.
Many important forest areas are now protected. These include:
- Big Reed Forest Preserve and Baxter State Park in Maine.
- Kejimkujik National Park and Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia.
- White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.
- Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont.
- Frontenac National Park and Bic National Park in Quebec.
- Fundy National Park in New Brunswick.
See also
In Spanish: Bosque acadiano para niños
