Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Historically, the New England/Acadian Forest was dominated by shade-tolerant, long-lived species such as
sugar maple, beech, eastern hemlock, and red spruce, with a significant amount of white pine and yellow birch
mixed in. Perhaps the defining characteristic of the New England/Acadian Forest is the dominance of red
spruce. Pollen evidence taken from lakes in northern Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and from bogs
in Prince Edward Island, indicate that the typical New England/Acadian Forest tree species have been growing
in these areas for at least five thousand years. At the time of European settlement, 60 to 85 percent of north-
eastern North America was covered by old-growth trees, having an average age of greater than one hundred
years, whereas today less than 1 percent of Nova Scotia's forests, for example, is considered to be old growth.
Terrestrial ecoregions of the Atlantic coast.
