An Inventory of Connecticut's Primeval Forests

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite Connecticut's 350+ years of logging history, there remains an appreciable acreage of small, isolated stands of 200+-year-old forests, most of which are in their original state or nearly so. The three primary forest communities discussed here are classified by their dominant tree species: ridges with eastern red cedar, ravines with eastern hemlock, and acidic, boreal swamps with black gum. The old-growth eastern red cedars occur throughout the Metacomet traprock ridges, which run north to south along central Connecticut. The old-growth eastern hemlocks are found in remote, steep ravines mostly within the Litchfield Hills and Connecticut's northwest corner. Isolated acidic boreal black gum/red spruce swamps are concentrated in high-altitude, shallow basins in the Litchfield Hills and the Quiet Corner (Northeastern Connecticut).