Loucks, O. L. (1961) A forest classification for the Maritime provinces. Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science. Vol. 25, Part 2: 85-167.

Some twenty-four years after Hall/day’s all-Canada study, Oliver Loucks, with the aim of ”providing a basis for Maritime silvicu/ture”, carried out a more detailed study of the variation within the forests of the Maritime provinces. Loucks used a hierarchia/ system to classify the forests, with the basic unit of his classification being the ’ecoregion ’, which he defined as ”a geographic unit within which ecological relationships between tree species and site were essentially similar”. Ecoregions were recognized by their characteristic tree species composition on ’zona/ site types’ — i. e. on well-drained sandy loam soils on gent/e mid-slopes. He recognized eleven forest ecoregions in the Mar/times, and subdivided these — ”on the basis of the pattern of relief, drainage or type of bedrock” — into fifty-five geographical/y limited ’site districts’. In the other direction, those ecoregions showing ”affinities in dominant tree species composition ” were grouped into ’forest zones’. Seven such zones were recognized for the Maritimes (Figure 6/, only two of which extended to Prince Edward Island: the ’Sugar map/e — Hemlock — Pine’ zone (a broad—leaved forest-type widely distributed throughout the Maritimesl and the ’Red spruce — Hemlock — Pine’ zone (the mostly widely distributed conifer—dominated forest-type). Loucks’ classification was based on field data collected by himself and others during the 19503 from many forest sites thoughout the Maritime provinces including Prince Edward Island. His study provides a more detailed picture of the forests of the island than Hall/"day’s; however — as is evident from his map of the island (Figure 5) — it still gives only a very generalized view of the variation within island forests.

TABLE 3. Distinctive features of the zones and ecoregions.

A selective extraction from Loucks’ Table 7.

Zone and Ecoregion Characteristic species Associated climate

Moderately warm, moderately dry

Sugar maple — Hemlock —

Pine Zone SM, Be, wP, eH, yB

Moderately warm, moderately dry

Magaguadav’c ‘ sM, Be, wP, eH, bF, rS

Hil/sborough Ecoregion

Moderately warm, moderately dry

Red spruce — Hemlock —

Pine Zone rS, bF, 8H, WP, rM

Maritime Low/ands bF, rS, bS, eH, wP, rM, jP moderately cool Ecoregion wS, Be moderately dry

[sM — sugar maple; Be - beech; wP - white pine; eH — eastern hemlock; yB - yellow birch; bF - balsam fir; rS - red spruce; rM ~ red maple; bS » black spruce; jP - jack pine; wS - white spruce]

SUGAR MAPLE — HEMLOCK — PINE ZONE

Two ecoregions Two Ecoregions are combined in this zone. One [the ’Pestigouche — Bras d’Or in the zone. Ecoregion’] is northern and is characterized by spruce, fir and pine forests among scattered hardwood stands [this ecoregion is the found in northern New Brunswick and on the eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, as well as on Cape Breton Island]; the other [the ’Magaguadavic — Hillsborough Ecoregion’] is more southerly and tolerant hardwoods are found on a wider range of sites. Hemlock is sparse in the former, and common on slopes and valley bottoms in the latter. The soils are more strongly podsolized, and consequently the demanding species characteristic of the Sugar Maple — Ash Zone are rare. Ip. 105]

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