ABSTRACT
A dozen or more conifer species of economic importance cover the lands of the North, occurring on particular sites south from the boggy Laurentian Shield, midway through the latitude of Hudson Bay, to the high-elevation spine of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Other coniferous species of the region serve as ecological niches, provide aesthetic landscapes, and enrich wildlife habitat. Above the midpoint of Hudson Bay, tundra vegetation or barren land, with discontinuous permafrost, prevails. This chapter deals with those pines, spruces, hemlocks, and white-cedars that grow in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, leaving to later discussion those that are found to the south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the surveyor’s boundary that delineates Pennsylvania and Maryland, or roughly the southern limit of glaciation’s influence. Prior to European settlement, northern conifer lands were wholly forested, temporarily treeless sites being due to wildfire, Native American incendiaries to expose game and enemies, and small patches utilized by Indians for food crops and villages.
