Conservation, Wildlife and Management Considerations: Aspen - birch
Birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus Betula contains 30 to 60 known taxa of which 11 are on the IUCN 201…
Where does aspen grow in the US?
In the lower 48 states, quaking aspen grows throughout the Rocky Mountain states, the Great Lakes region and New England. Bigtooth aspen has a much smaller distribution, growing from Minnesota eastward to New England and southern parts of Canada.
What is an aspen tree?
Facts on Aspen Trees | Sciencing The versatile aspen tree has the unusual distinction of growing from coast to coast across North American, spreading as far north as Alaska and Canada and as far south as West Virginia. Learn about this plant's saw-toothed leaves, its unusual bark, and its significance for wildlife.
What are the 14 native conifers in Maine?
Maine's 14 Native Conifers 1 Cedar: Atlantic White, Eastern Red and Northern White 2 Fir: Balsam 3 Hemlock: Eastern 4 Juniper: Common 5 Larch: Tamarack 6 Pine: Eastern White 7 Jack (Gray) 8 Pitch 9 Red (Norway) 10 Spruce: Black, Red and White (Cat)
What animals live in aspen trees?
During hard winters, the green, sugary layer provides necessary nutrients for deer and elk. Throughout the year, young aspens provide food or a variety of animals including moose, black bear, beaver, porcupine, ruffed grouse and rodents . Although a soft wood, aspen is relatively strong and has been used in unique ways.
Is there aspen in Maine?
Range within Maine: Quaking aspen is found statewide.
Do aspen trees grow in New England?
Range. Quaking aspen grows from Labrador through New England to New Jersey. It is found across the Lake States and Canada, up to the tundra, and northwest into interior Alaska, then down through the inland northwest.
What states have aspen trees?
Most of the aspen forest in the United States is found in Utah and Colorado, though it is also scattered throughout all of the western states. Aspen provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including hare, moose, black bear, elk, deer, ruffed grouse, migratory birds, and a variety of smaller animals.
How do you tell if a tree is an aspen?
The aspen tree's identifying features are its tall, slender appearance, thin round tooth-edged leaves on the ends of long stems, and grayish bark. You can recognize aspens by the fluttering leaves that make the tree look as if it's trembling.
Are there aspen trees on the east coast?
Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) has the widest geographical range of any North American tree. Indigenous to Alaska, most of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, New England, the Great Lakes region and south to New Mexico and Arizona, its southernmost boundary on the east coast is North Carolina.
Do aspen trees grow in the Northeast?
Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidentata) is a native deciduous tree, which grows throughout northeastern North America, including New York State and the Adirondack Mountains.
Are there aspen trees in Massachusetts?
trembling aspen (Trees of Massachusetts) · iNaturalist.
What is the difference between poplar and aspen?
Quaking aspen has smaller heart-shaped to circular (orbicular) leaves with fine (serrate) teeth on the edges. Balsam poplar leaves are quite variable across its range but in general they are egg-shaped (ovate) or more narrowly spear-shaped (lanceolate) with very small teeth along the leaf margin.
Are birch and aspen the same?
Quaking Aspens are often confused with birch trees. Although aspen are somewhat similar in appearance to some species of birch, birch trees belong to an entirely different family of trees. Birch are famous for having bark that peels back like paper; aspen bark does not peel.
What does aspen tree look like?
Aspen has heart shaped leaves but birch has oval shaped leaves with tapering tips. Both trees leaves are a beautiful shade of green and in the fall they turn brilliant tones of yellow but are rarely red.
Are aspen trees related to poplar trees?
poplar, (genus Populus), genus of some 35 species of trees in the willow family (Salicaceae), native to the Northern Hemisphere. The poplar species native to North America are divided into three loose groups: the cottonwoods, the aspens, and the balsam poplars.
What is special about aspen trees?
Aspens grow all the time—even in winter. Beneath the thin, white outer bark layer is a thin green photosynthetic layer that allows the tree to create sugars and grow when other deciduous trees would otherwise be dormant. During hard winters, the green, sugary layer provides necessary nutrients for deer and elk.
What trees are common in a post fire forest?
Community Description: This complex of post fire associations of aspen, birch, and other species can occur as open canopy woodlands, as closed forest, or, in very exposed areas, as stunted, dense shrublands. Paper birch, big-toothed aspen, quaking aspen, and red maple are the most common trees; other trees may be common at some sites. The shrub layer, usually < 50% cover except in the shrubland variant, is variable; shadbush (at low cover) and gray birch (locally abundant) are the most consistent species. Herb cover is higher under more open canopies, where more light reaches the ground. Many sites have patches of lowbush blueberry or black huckleberry; bracken fern is the most characteristic herbaceous species. The bryoid layer is sparse. Back to top.
What are the most common trees in the forest?
Paper birch, big-toothed aspen, quaking aspen, and red maple are the most common trees; other trees may be common at some sites. The shrub layer, usually < 50% cover except in the shrubland variant, is variable; shadbush (at low cover) and gray birch (locally abundant) are the most consistent species.
Where is the shrubland form?
The shrubland form occurs on exposed low elevation summits (900-1200') and is currently documented from Acadia National Park and a few other sites Downeast. Back to top. Diagnostics: The canopy is dominated by early successional deciduous trees (poplars, birches, red maple). Conifers and red oak may be present but are not dominant.
Is red oak a deciduous forest?
Similar Types: Other deciduous forest/woodland types have greater amounts of red oak ( Birch - Oak Rocky Woodland) or have northern hardwood species dominant ( Northern Hardwoods Forest ). Some Oak - Pine Woodlands can be strongly deciduous and can resemble this type, but red oak cover exceeds that of birches, aspen, and red maple combined. Back to top.
Where do aspen trees grow?
The versatile aspen tree has the unusual distinction of growing from coast to coast across North American, spreading as far north as Alaska and Canada and as far south as West Virginia. Learn about this plant's saw-toothed leaves, its unusual bark, and its significance for wildlife.
How long do aspen trees live?
The aspen normally will not live long, only about 25 years, when planted for landscaping purposes.
What family is a quaking aspen?
The quaking aspen and the bigtooth aspen are members of the willow family of trees. They belong to the genus Populus, which includes aspens, poplars and cottonwoods. Aspen trees are sometimes referred to as aspen poplars. Both species of aspen trees enjoy a wide geographical range, especially the quaking aspen, ...
How big are aspen leaves?
Quaking aspen leaves are nearly round and as wide as 3 inches. Those of bigtooth aspen are longer at about 3 1/2 inches but not quite as wide, with most between 2 and 2 1/2 inches across. Both kinds have edges with rounded teeth on them, with bigtooth aspen’s teeth farther apart than those on the quaking aspen. The leaves turn yellowish gold in the fall, creating striking scenery where large stands of the trees grow.
What is the branching pattern of an aspen tree?
Aspen Poplar Branching Pattern. The quaking aspen tree is a pioneer species that can quickly colonize areas recently cleared areas. The trees develop root suckers which emerge from the soil around the base of the trunk. These suckers can grow into new trees, forming a stand of closely growing aspens.
Where do quaking aspens grow?
Quaking aspens grow across Canada and into Alaska, with the tree absent only from the extreme northern portions of both. In the lower 48 states, quaking aspen grows throughout the Rocky Mountain states, the Great Lakes region and New England. Bigtooth aspen has a much smaller distribution, growing from Minnesota eastward to New England and southern parts of Canada. This variety of aspen tree grows as far south as parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Where does Bigtooth Aspen grow?
Bigtooth aspen has a much smaller distribution, growing from Minnesota eastward to New England and southern parts of Canada. This variety of aspen tree grows as far south as parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Unusual Aspen Leaf.
Where do aspens grow?
From the Midwest, across Canada, north into Alaska and across the West through to Arizona and New Mexico, quaking as pens dot the edge of conifer forests in clusters or “clones.”. One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism.
How old is the oldest aspen?
Older than the massive Sequoias or the biblical Bristlecone Pines, the oldest known aspen clone has lived more than 80,000 years on Utah’s Fishlake National Forest. Not only is the clone the oldest living organism, weighing in at an estimated 6,600 tons, it is also the heaviest.
How long do aspens stay dormant?
Before a single aspen trunk appears above the surface, the root system may lie dormant for many years until the conditions are just right, including sufficient sunlight. In a single stand, each tree is a genetic replicate of the other, hence the name a “clone” of aspens used to describe a stand.
What animals eat aspen?
Throughout the year, young aspens provide food or a variety of animals including moose, black bear, beaver, porcupine, ruffed grouse and rodents . Although a soft wood, aspen is relatively strong and has been used in unique ways.
Why are there fencing around aspen trees in Arizona?
With support from Salt River Project, the National Forest Foundation helped provide fencing around 12 acres of key aspen stands on Arizona’s Kaibab National Forest to prevent elk from eating the trees. In Utah, the NFF brought together various stakeholders to form the Utah Forest Restoration Working Group.
What is the most common tree in North America?
It’s hard to decide what is most memorable about aspen: the vibrant yellow in the fall, the tall, tube-like clusters of white stands or the sound of the “quaking” leaves. Regardless of what comes to mind when you think of aspens, they hold the title of the most widespread tree in North America. From the Midwest, across Canada, north into Alaska ...
Is aspen wood strong?
Although a soft wood, aspen is relatively strong and has been used in unique ways. Matches – aspen wood is not as flammable as other species. Saunas – aspen wood does not splinter easily. Chopsticks – aspen is flexible and strong for your next tasty eggroll.
How long do aspen trees live?
Birch trees grow to 40 to 50 feet in height and can live for 40 to 50 years. Aspen typically reach 20 to 80 feet in height. Individual aspen trees live about 80 years in natural forests but may only survive 20 years in urban settings. Aspen grow naturally in colonies where all trees are clones connected by the roots.
How old is the Aspen colony?
The colony can survive wildfire and other extremes because the root system is underground; one colony in Utah is estimated to be 80,000 years old. Advertisement. Weeping birch ( Betula pendula) is a European species that grows in a "weeping" habit.
What is the name of the white birch tree?
Bark and Leaves. Paper birch ( Betula papyrifera ), also known by the common names of white birch and canoe birch, and trembling or quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides) are popular landscaping trees across the United States. Both have white bark.
What trees turn yellow in the fall?
Aspen trees glow yellow in the forest in autumn. Birch ( Betula spp. ), hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 to 9, depending on species, and aspen ( Populus spp.) are both deciduous trees with light-colored thin bark and leaves that turn yellow in autumn.
Where are birch trees native to?
Gray birch ( Betula populifolia ), yellow birch ( Betula alleghaniensis) and sweet, black or cherry birch ( Betula lenta) are native to the northeastern United States and hardy in zones 3 to 6; river or red birch ( Betula nigra ), hardy in zones 4 to 9, is native to the South and grows as far north as Minnesota.
Where is the Quaking Aspen most common?
Quaking Aspen grows all across North America, though it's most common in Colorado and Utah at elevations of 5,000 to 12,000 feet. Advertisement.
Do aspen trees have white bark?
Both have white bark. Birch bark turns lighter and peels off in sheets as the tree matures; aspen bark may become rough in older trees but does not peel off. Both aspen and birch have ovate, serrated leaves -- however aspen leaves are rounder than birch and more finely toothed.
