Frederick County Landscapes: Mixed Hardwood Forest

Submitted by Mike Kay,
Maryland Forest Service

________________________________________________________________

Certain sections of forest enjoy the best of conditions, deep, rich, fertile soils, adequate moisture, and gentle topography. Examples of these areas are mountainous foot slopes, bluffs overlooking streams and rivers, coves, hollows, and north facing aspects.  The forests that are found on these sites typically contain a wide variety of trees with no single species being dominant. These forests are usually referred to as cove, mixed hardwood, or Appalachian hardwood forests.  Under these ideal conditions,  trees grow quickly and attain a large size, especially in respect to height growth. You can tell a lot about the productivity of a forest by looking at the height of trees.  The trees in a Mixed Hardwood forest are very tall compared to a forest of lesser productivity.

Mixed Hardwood stands occur on fertile and productive sites.

Some of the trees found in a Mixed Hardwood forest include tulip poplar, red oak, white oak, white ash, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, beech, black gum,  white pine, black birch,  hemlock, black cherry, black walnut, elm, basswood, butternut, sugar maple and red maple. Some of the understory shrubs present in these forests include, muscle wood, ironwood, witch hazel, paw paw, spicebush, bladdernut, viburnums, flowering dogwood, and sourwood.

Mixed Hardwood forests typically have a lush understory containing subcanopy layers.

Along with plant diversity, these sites contain a wide diversity of wildlife, particularly birds.  With the greatest variety being linked to the size of the forest, the amount of undisturbed “interior”, and the amount of canopy levels present. Where large tracts of mixed hardwood forests occur you are likely to find habitat for forest interior dwelling (FIDS) plants and animals.  Many FIDS numbers are in a state of decline due mostly to forest fragmentation that is occurring in populated areas like Maryland.

A pileated woodpecker made these holes in an ash tree. 
Pileated woodpeckers prefer large unbroken tracts of forest as habitat.