THE NORTHEASTERN EVERGREEN CONIFEROUS 



FOREST CLIMATIC FORMATION IN 



NORTHERN CAPE BRETON 



I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



Distribution and general character. — By far the greater part 

 of northern Cape Breton, indeed nearly all the country above an 

 elevation of approximately seven hundred feet, is occupied by 

 this fomiation. With reference to the general ecological aspect 

 of the vegetation, however, the area thus defined can be sub- 

 divided into two regions: (j) the forest region proper, which 

 hereafter will be referred to simply as the Forested Region ; and 

 {3) the Barrens. The extent of these regions is roughly indi- 

 cated on the map (Fig. 2). In a general way, the forested 

 region can be said to include the upper mountain slopes, together 

 with the outer and lower, less exposed parts of the plateau. 

 Here the country is covered by an almost unbroken forest of 

 balsam fir, spruce, and paper birch (Figs. 4, 47, 49). The bar- 

 rens (Figs. 48, 51, etc.) include primarily the higher, more 

 exposed portions of the plateau, being especially well developed 

 toward the interior, and occupying altogether an area estimated 

 by Fernow ('12, p. 20) at about 375 square miles. Here 

 forests of the usual description are largely confined to the 

 "gulches," while the country at large is covered mainly by heath 

 and scrubby forests, swamps and bogs ("muskeag"). 



Evergreen coniferous forest in the highlands a climatic, not 

 an edaphic climax. — In a brief summary report of field work in 

 Cape Breton, Macoun ('98, p. 199A), records the following 

 observations : "Before going to Cape Breton, I had, like many 

 others, a very mistaken notion of the 'barrens'^^ in the northern 

 part of the island. After spending some time in the north and 

 on the plateau, the conditions producing these barrens became 

 evident. Along the base of the escarpment bordering the 

 plateau, the subsoil is generally impervious, and here spruce and 

 fir occupy the ground. The broken face of the escarpment is 



"Macoun here seems to use this term in a much more comprehensive 

 sense than that in which it is employed by the writer. 



