FOREST TYPES OF THE APPALACHIANS AND 

 WHITE MOUNTAINS 



By W. W. Ashe 



I. DEFINITIONS AND ENUMERATIONS OF TYPES* 



Within the White Mountains of New England and in the Appa- 

 lachiansf from Pennsylvania southward more than 50 distinct forests 

 types or tree societies occur. Of these, more than 30 are within 

 the lAlleghanian area {Castanea and Betula lutea-Pinus strohus 

 phases) of the Transition life zone ; about 10 are in the Canadian 

 life zone, and about the same number in the Carolinian area of the 

 upper Austral zone, which extends well up into the mountains towards 

 their southern end (Appendix 1). 



DEFINITION OF FOREST TYPE 



The forest type is that arborescent species or admixture of species 

 with the accompanying subordinate vegetation (which taken together 

 constitute the vert) which nature has developed as best adapted to a 

 given site. For this reason an understanding of the distribution 

 of the forest types, their composition, and the determining environ- 

 mental factors are a necessary basis for the best silvicultural prac- 

 tice. Unf ortunatelj^, site and type have been confused : The site is 

 the sum of the ecological (i. e., edaphic, topographic, and meteorologi- 

 cal) factors; the forest type with its accompanying life is the biotic 

 corollary as it exists. 



TYPE CHANGES 



The type does not necessarily, even in the absence of stress, 

 replace itself in all its elements without change. There are (1) 

 changes in composition due to replacement (oscillations) ; and (2) 

 changes due to modification of the accompanying flora, especially the 



* The detailed composition of the forest types, their relationsliip and local distribution, 

 especially their altitudinal distribution will be presented in subsequent papers, as well as 

 the grouping of the White Mountain forest types. 



t There was submitted at the meeting of the Society of American Foresters held at 

 Toronto, Canada, December 28, 1921, a paper with the title "Reserved Areas of Forest 

 Types as a Guide in Develojjing an American Silviculture." That paper records the most 

 accessible location of areas in an unmodified oi< little modified condition of each of the 

 upland Appalachian types noted in the tabulation herewith presented. The suggestion 

 was made in that paper that the Society of American Foresters consider the subject of 

 recommending that these areas or similar areas of forst types be withdrawn from exploita- 

 tion and be held primarily for demonstration purposes. That paper, however, was read 

 by title only but will appear in the February, 1922, issue of the Journal of Forestry. 



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