Major Forest Cover Types of the United States
When deciding what species of native mast-producing tree or shrub to plant, it is helpful to have an understanding of the type of forest ecosystem native to your region.
The Society of American Foresters has defined the following 24 major forest cover types in the United States:
Forest Cover Types: Continental United States and Alaska
White-red-jack pine
Indicator species: eastern white pine, red pine, jack pine
Common associates: hemlock, aspen, birch, maple
Spruce-fir
Indicator species: spruce, fir
Common associates: white cedar, tamarack, maple, birch, hemlock
Longleaf-slash pine
Indicator species: longleaf pine, slash pine
Common associates: other pines, oak, gum
Loblolly-shortleaf pine
Indicator species: loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, southern yellow pines, except longleaf or slash pine
Common associates: oak, hickory, gum
Oak-pine
Indicator species: oak, pine, eastern red cedar
Common associates: gum, hickory, yellow poplar
Oak-hickory
Indicator species: oak, hickory
Common associates: yellow poplar, elm, maple, black walnut
Oak-gum-cypress
Indicator species: tupelo, blackgum, sweetgum, oak, southern cypress
Common associates: cottonwood, willow, ash, elm, hackberry, maple
Elm-ash-cottonwood
Indicator species: elm, ash, cottonwood
Common associates: willow, sycamore, beech, maple
Maple-beech-birch
Indicator species: maple, beech, yellow birch
Common associates: hemlock, elm, basswood, white pine
Aspen-birch
Indicator species: aspen, balsam poplar, paper birch, gray birch
Common associates: maple, balsam fir
Douglas fir
Indicator species: Douglas fir
Common associates: western hemlock, western red cedar, other firs, redwood, ponderosa pine, larch
Hemlock-Sitka spruce
Indicator species: Western hemlock, Sitka spruce
Common associates: Douglas fir, silver fir, western red cedar
Redwood
Indicator species: redwood
Common associates: Douglas fir, grand fir, tanoak
Ponderosa pine
Indicator species: ponderosa pine
Common associates: Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, limber pine, Arizona pine, Apache pine, Chihuahua pine, Douglas fir, incense cedar, white fir
Western white pine
Indicator species: western white pine
Common associates: western red cedar, larch, white fir, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce
Lodgepole pine
Indicator species: lodgepole pine
Common associates: alpine fir, western white pine, Engelmann spruce, aspen, larch
Larch
Indicator species: western larch
Common associates: Douglas fir, grand fir, western red cedar, and western white pine.
Fir-spruce
Indicator species: fir, Engelmann spruce, Colorado blue spruce
Common associates: mountain hemlock, lodgepole pine
Western hardwoods
Indicator species: aspen, red alder, other western hardwoods
Chaparral
Indicator species: dwarfed trees and shrubs including pine, oak, cypress, madrone, fir
Pinyon-juniper
Indicator species: pinyon pine, juniper
Spruce-birch
Indicator species: White spruce, paper birch, quaking aspen, balsam poplar
Forest Cover Types: Hawaii
Native Forest
Mixed forest
To view an interactive map of the various forest cover types, please visit the National Atlas of the United States’s Forest Resources Map.
Different systems have been developed by organizations such as the World Wildlife Federation and the US Environmental Protection Agency/Commission for Environmental Cooperation to define different types of forest ecosystems of communities.
[…] The oak family (Quercus sp.) is the most important source of hard mast in hardwood forests across North America. Along with the hickory family (Carya sp.), oaks were the dominant species in the oak-hickory forest, a type of forest cover that once dominated the eastern woodlands of North America from New York to Georgia and from the Atlantic seaboard to Iowa and northeastern Texas. The oak-hickory ecosystem had the largest range of any of North America’s native deciduous forests. […]