Discovering Forest Mosaics in Upstate New York

Having spent most of the past several years in eastern Massachusetts, I have not had much opportunity to really dive into the minute differences between the forest ecosystems of the eastern United States. I had heard of a few unique locations that differed from the oak and pine-dominated lowlands of my home region, such as the temperate rainforests of the southern Appalachians, as well as the northern hardwood forests of the northernmost regions of New England. I didn’t stop to think much, however, of how these northerly latitude forests adjust as we move westward into New York state past the remote Adirondack mountains and beyond into the Midwest. Subconsciously, I believed that these forests would resemble the oak-pine dominated areas of Massachusetts that extend south into Rhode Island, Connecticut, and beyond.

With this line of thinking I recently visited upstate New York, in the northernmost region just south of the Canadian border, about an hour’s drive south of Ottawa and near the St. Lawrence River. What struck me most as I was driving westward away from the coast of Massachusetts was the seemingly slow reduction of oaks in the canopy. They almost completely disappeared as I reached the Berkshires, the famous sub-range of the Appalachians in western Massachusetts. As I continued into New York, for the most part I saw very different tree combinations, known as northern hardwoods. The occasional dominance of oak pine forests seemed somewhat tied to altitude, latitude, and local soil conditions.

Northern hardwood forests are very beautiful and tend to have a lighter, airier feeling than both the oak-pine forests in the south and the spruce-fir forests of the north. They tend to be dominated by sugar maples, american beeches, and yellow birch trees. We also see hemlock conifers dominating in certain wetland areas that they are adapted to. At higher elevations, colder regions and more northerly latitudes, these northern hardwood forests start mixing with more spruce-fir forests, while in warmer, drier locations, they start to mix in with the oak-pines, as they do in eastern Massachusetts. In some areas, particularly Maine and other parts of northern New England, paper birch can also be a dominant canopy tree in early succession forests, or forests that have recently been clear cut, blown down, or damaged in some other way.

Despite a comparative dearth of oaks in comparison to eastern Massachusetts, they are not completely missing from the canopy near the Lawrence River. Where oaks have been able to dominate have sometimes been human curated or influenced, but oaks can still be found often as understory shrubs in northern hardwood forest settings, as well as fully dominant on soils that are thinner, rockier, or clay-based (which is a more common soil type as we move closer to the St. Lawrence watershed). In Massachusetts, their dominance is presumed to be influenced by prior fire regimes and clearing of forests for farmland, which has changed the forest composition significantly. Fires are believed to help stimulate acorn growth and clear out species that compete with oaks, though red oaks do slightly better in wetter environments than other varieties. Southern New England still sees significantly fewer fires, however, than ecosystems in the westerns half of the country.

On a short hike down to a view of Cedar Lake, we found these tree dominance trends in full effect. Beech trees were plentiful, but often suffering from beech bark disease, a fairly common ailment to see on an American Beech. Yellow birch appeared to dominate on disturbed sites, such as over stumps and logs of old trees, with occasional white birches making their appearance on the edge of the lake, where they could capture more sun rays. Sugar maples seemed the predominant maple in these forests, which contrasts starkly with the red maple dominance in Massachusetts and further into the south (we did see a few in the understory). I don’t even recall encountering the invasive Norway Maple, which is easily mistaken for sugar maple and very common in eastern Canada and New England. The prevalence of these trees up north supports a strong maple syrup industry that likely isn’t sustainable in southern New England. Red oak was found in the understory, but rarely as a dominant member of the canopy. However, research into other trails in this area has suggested oak and white pine dominance on the rocky ledges above the lake, where the northern hardwood species may struggle to grow.

At the time we went in August, the trail was very overgrown, buggy, hot, and humid. The trails here are also very poorly marked, so it’s easy to take an unintended route down to the lake, but it was easy to see the large body of water through the trees which helped with navigation to a viewing spot. The route down to the lake was steep and muddy, and apparently is meant to function as a canoe launch, though it looks incredibly difficult to get a canoe down the steep, rocky and muddy hill! The area has a history of logging, farming, and fires started by humans, so most of it likely doesn’t represent true old growth forest, but the area we explored seemed to be in a mid successional stage of forest development. While much of the trail’s state suggested a lack of frequent maintenance and lack of heavy usage, going slightly off the beaten path to explore such areas provides us nature enthusiasts the unique opportunity to explore these pristine northern hardwood forests in an area where they face fewer active disturbances.