ABSTRACT
Seldom do conifer stands remain pure throughout a rotation. Almost always, more shade-tolerant broadleaf species invade, often toward the end of a rotation, and become the principal trees in a stand. An example is northern red oak that replaces white pine. Occasionally, the reverse occurs, as when eastern hemlock replaces yellow-poplar. Red spruce and yellow birch predominate on lands in parts of the Maritime provinces of Canada and southward through New England to New York. There, the type is found on moist, but well-drained soils at low elevation. The trees also cover mountainous terrain to 5000 feet elevation in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee. Cutting practices of the past have affected the acreage of the paper birch-red spruce-balsam fir type. As conifers have been harvested in stands of other types, paper birch takes over the openings to expand the area covered by this species.
