Northern hardwood community

Figure 13. Hardwoods on the flanks of the Roan Highlands include beech, birch, and buckeye as well as white oak. (Photograph by Dirk Frankenberg. More about the photograph)

Figure 13 shows a view of the northern hardwoods forest type that dominates the flanks of the Roan Highlands. As its name suggests, this is a forest type of mixed composition. The major tree species are the three Bs — beech, birch, and buckeye — but many other species can co-occur, including basswood, maples, chokecherries, and ash. In drier locations the forest grades into a community dominated by red oak; and, on broad ridges and flats, into one dominated by white oak. The subtleties of these different forest types cannot be seen in Figure 13, but the obvious oak leaves remaining on trees on the left of the middle ridge suggest that more than one forest type is represented at this relatively low elevation site.

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