The Early Successional Forest is a familiar plant community that springs up in disturbed areas around Maine. This community represents an in-between stage from directly after disturbance to an established forest. They form on slopes, hills, and flats after natural occurrences like fire, or unnatural occurrences due to human activity. Although this habitat is often created by wildfires, it does not burn easily. Instead, disruptions to this community are caused by trees downed by wind and snow. It has mineral soils on top of bedrock or glacial till (sediment that was historically deposited by melting glaciers). The soils are usually very nutrient poor, well-drained, and acidic.
Early successional trees and pioneer species thrive in this plant community. Deciduous trees in the early stages of growth include birches, aspen, maples, poplars. Serviceberries and Gray Birch thrive alongside the saplings of other trees. Sometimes conifer and Northern Red Oak saplings occur, but once oak trees take over, this plant community becomes a new forest type. Patches of Lowbush Blueberry and Black Huckleberry take up the forest floor, and Bracken Fern is the most common herbaceous species found.
A number of bird species favor this type of habitat, including warblers and Northern Saw-whet Owls. Ruffed Grouse prefer the cover of saplings to meadows of herbaceous plants. Some rare birds that live in this plant community include Three-toed Woodpeckers and Olive-sided Flycatchers. Flying squirrels, porcupines, foxes, and bears also forage in this habitat.
Canada Serviceberry
Often an understory tree in established forests, Canada Serviceberry pops up in Early Successional Forests as well. It usually grows as a multi-stemmed shrub up to 20 feet tall, a bit smaller than other serviceberry species. In spring, this tree has showy and fragrant flowers with five long white petals. Serviceberries bloom around the same time, but Canada Serviceberry usually follows a week after the other species. It has somewhat wide and rounded leaves that are finely toothed, and in June, delicious red to purple fruit emerges for a short period of time before being devoured by animals. The fall foliage is spectacular, with leaves turning red and orange as the weather cools.
The wide range and large cultural importance of this species means that it has plenty of common names. It is known as Juneberry because of the fruits that ripen in June. It is also called Shadbush or Shadblow, because the spring blooms are a cue to the Wabanaki that shad are returning to coastal rivers. These blooms were a different cue to European settlers, who noted that the ground had finally thawed enough for burial services, therefore giving it the name ‘Serviceberry.’
The delicious edible fruit from this tree has been put to use for hundreds of years. Indigenous peoples harvest the berries as soon as they are ripe, eat some of them fresh, and store the rest through drying or mashing into cakes. From there, serviceberries are sometimes added as an ingredient to pemmican. Pemmican consists of dried meat, animal fat, and berries such as serviceberries. This snack is packed with calories, and the shelf life is decades long. This makes pemmican a good way to get essential nutrients over winter, or a good snack for traveling. European explorers adopted it for their travels throughout New England, and settlers brought serviceberries into their own western recipes of pies, tarts, and preserves. Serviceberries are still used to make these treats to this day, and the trees have their own place in the garden. Their size and multi-season interest make for an excellent ornamental tree.
Serviceberries aren’t just enjoyed by humans—any animal that can eat the berries will eat them! Once the berries are ripe, it is a race between every species to get them before they are gone. At least 35 species of birds devour serviceberries, well-timed for their breeding season. Mammals such as chipmunks, squirrels, beavers, and bears also snack on the fruit. Serviceberry is also an important browse plant for deer and moose, and the prolific flowers in spring are a crucial food source for native bees.
Gray Birch
Gray Birch is a classic pioneer species, a perfect match for the Early Successional Forest plant community. It grows fast, tall and thin, in full sun where there are no taller trees to create shade. It can be single-stemmed or multi-trunked with white bark, gray lenticels, and black triangular patches where branches meet or once met the bark. All birch trees have visible lenticels, and Paper Birch also has white bark—to know you are looking at a Gray Birch, note that the bark is not as bright white, hence the name Gray Birch. Also, the bark on this tree does not peel as much as Paper Birch bark. You can also look for the catkins, which are almost always solitary, instead of in pairs or groups like other birch trees. The leaves are distinctive as well: dark green, serrated, and triangular with an elongated tip. Unlike other birch trees, Gray Birch leaves flutter in the wind, revealing their paler undersides that make the tree shimmer. These leaves turn golden yellow in the fall before floating to the ground.
Because Gray Birch is tolerant of many stressful conditions, it makes a great urban tree. It has beautiful fall and winter interest, and out of all the birch trees it has the best resistance to the Bronze Birch Borer—a native insect pest of birch trees. Indigenous peoples use the inner bark to treat cuts and wounds, and the soft wood is good for making spools and clothespins. Of course, one of the most classic human uses for the wood is simply firewood. All kinds of animals make use of the Gray Birch as well. Birds eat the buds and seeds, and hares, beavers, porcupines, deer, and moose browse the bark and twigs. Along with other saplings in the Early Successional Forest, Gray Birches make excellent cover for hares and bobcats.
Lowbush Blueberry
Aptly named for its small size and berry color, Lowbush Blueberry (pictured above) is a frequent inhabitant of Early Successional Forest plant communities. This shrub can spread up to multiple feet through rhizomes and does so easily in disturbed areas, often forming ‘blueberry barrens’ where the landscape is dominated by this plant. It grows up to two feet tall in full or part sun and acidic soil. It has greenish brown to red bark, white or pink-tinged bell-shaped flowers, and alternating leaves that turn bright red in the fall. It is easy to tell apart from its cousin Highbush Blueberry not only because of its smaller size, but the leaves are significantly smaller as well. Don’t mix up Lowbush Blueberry with Black Huckleberry—the latter has leaves with sticky yellow resinous dots on the underside.
The delicious state fruit of Maine has been enjoyed by humans ever since humans existed in New England. Indigenous peoples, who love eating the berries fresh or dried, found that burning away the bushes in blueberry barrens each year would stimulate the production of berries. To this day, this practice is still used by wild blueberry farmers, although mowing is more frequent than burning, which can be unreliable. Lowbush Blueberries produce berries on a two-year cycle, with one year focused on vegetative growth and the other focused on berry production. Farmers tend to naturally-occurring blueberry barrens, splitting the fields in half to ensure a consistent harvest each year. After harvest, they completely prune one half of the field to promote new growth. Wild Lowbush Blueberries are relished for their taste, smaller and sweeter than Highbush Blueberries. They
Lowbush Blueberry is an important species for pollinators, especially for certain specialist bees that only collect pollen from blueberry bushes. Ruffed Grouse eat the flower buds, and the berries are devoured by all kinds of animals—birds, mice, voles, raccoons, foxes, deer, bears, and more! Rabbits, deer, and moose eat the leaves as well.
