Adirondack Hardwood Conifer

A forest community not typically recognized in most descriptions of adirondack vegetation is the upper slope hardwood conifer forest.

Adirondack hardwood conifer.

Adirondack conifer forests are dominated by two conifer species. Determining whether an individual tree is a conifer or a hardwood and whether it is flourishing in full sun or shade is just the first step in tree identification. Mixed wood forest on the jenkins mountain trail at the paul smith s college vic 12 august 2013. Mixed wood forests contain both conifers with needle like or scale like leaves and hardwoods deciduous trees that cope with the long harsh winters by dropping their leaves at the end of the growing season.

Both species are found in other ecological communities in the adirondack park including mixed forests and wetlands. About 100 native species of trees are present in the adirondack mountains. It is one of the indicator plants for the boreal forest community. The eastern white pine a canopy tree is one of the signature trees of the adirondacks.

Upper slope hardwood conifer. Red spruce picea rubens is a medium sized evergreen conifer that grows in cool boreal forests of the northeast including the adirondack mountains. Red spruce and balsam fir. This community is very similar to the mixedwood type except red maple is lacking and sugar maple and american beech are more common than in the lower slope hardwood conifer type.

The different forest communities which characterize the adirondacks are highlighted in early spring after snow melt and before leaf out the dark greens of conifers near the marshy shore give way to a mix of hardwoods and conifers as the elevation increases followed by an area of northern hardwoods followed by a summit of dark green conifers. Conifer swamps lowland conifer and mountain conifer forests at. American beech and sugar maple are the most tolerant hardwood species in our area. The eastern white pine at the paul smiths vic.

It is often seen together with other conifers such as the balsam fir in mixed hardwood conifer forest communities the eastern white pine may be observed growing in the same area as deciduous. A listing of mammals found in the adirondack park of upstate new york and their habitat and distribution within the adirondacks.