Geographical 
     
     area. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Dominant trees. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Charac teris tic 
     
     ground flora. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Silviculture. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Climatic factors. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Top ograph y. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Central and 
     
     eastern Prince 
     
     Edward Island. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Magaguadavic — Hillsborough Ecoregion 
     
    
   
   
    
     The inland portions of southern New Brunswick and central areas in Prince Edward 
     
     Island and Nova Scotia support forests with much in common, and are considered 
     
     together in the Magaguadavic — Hillsborough Ecoregion. Tolerant hardwoods, 
     
     locally of good quality, are abundant on upland sites. Red oak and black cherry 
     
     are widely distributed. Mainly coniferous forests are found on the steep slopes of 
     
     narrow valleys, on broad valley bottoms, and on outwash plains. Balsam fir, 
     
     hemlock, white spruce, red spruce and white pine predominate on the valley tills; 
     
     white pine, balsam fir and black spruce on the sandy outwashes. lntolerant stands 
     
     of red maple, wire birch and aspen are also prominent. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Species of the forest floor that distinguish the Ecoregion include dogtooth-violet, 
     
     cucumber-root, yellow violet and zigzag smilacina. These plants are not limited to 
     
     the Ecoregion, but are more widely distributed here and contribute to the 
     
     distinctive nature of the vegetation. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The light-textured soils and coniferous lower slopes present little difficulty to forest 
     
     management. White birch and other intolerant hardwoods occupy some of this 
     
     land, but their replacement by spruce, fir and pine can be expected. The fir is not 
     
     so long—lived or of as good quality as in other parts of the Maritime Provinces; 60 
     
     to 80—year-old stems are frequently decadent. Sugar maple, beech and red maple 
     
     reproduction comprise the aggressive competition on tolerant hardwood sites. 
     
     Quality sugar maple and yellow birch could be grown on some soils if suitable 
     
     treatments were carried out (Jarvis, 1956). Much of the land has been cleared for 
     
     agriculture and where it has reverted to white spruce (or in a few places white 
     
     pine) these species do well. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The climate differs from that of the surrounding ecoregions in the low summer 
     
     precipitation, warm summer temperature and high potential evapotranspiration. 
     
     A water deficiency prevails throughout most of the Ecoregion, the LaHave District 
     
     in Nova Scotia being the exception. Since water deficiency data were not 
     
     available for stations indicating the high temperatures and relatively low summer 
     
     precipitation, this exception may be an inadequacy of the available data. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Rolling, drumlinoid topography and moderately deep sandy-loam soils are frequent. 
     
     Sandy outwash soils are locally abundant in southern New Brunswick. 
     
    
   
   
    
     lpp. 109-10] 
     
    
   
   
    
     [Loucks divided this ecoregion into eight districts: four cover a large contiguous 
     
     area in south-western New Brunswick (see Figure 6/, with a fifth in the nearby 
     
     Kennebecasis Valley; two are in Nova Scot/a: one in the interior of south—western 
     
     Nova Scot/a, the other in the Pictou and Antigonish areas. The eighth district, the 
     
     Hillsborough District, is confined to Prince Edward Island — see Figure 5 (below).] 
     
    
   
   
    
     HILLSBOROUGH DISTRICT: Comprised of rolling land below 500 feet in elevation in 
     
     central Prince Edward Island and protected by distance from the desiccating winds 
     
     off the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The water deficiency indicated in Fig. 3 (d) [not 
     
     included here] distinguishes the climate. Sugar maple and beech with scattered 
     
     yellow birch predominate on uncleared areas; hemlock and red spruce are limited 
     
     to lower slopes and moist sites. The characteristic relief pattern is illustrated in 
     
     Fig. 8. [Fig. 8 is a photograph with the following caption: Rolling forest and 
     
     agricultural lands in the Hillsborough District, Prince Edward Island. As a rule only 
     
     the steep slopes with scattered rock outcroppings have been left uncleared] 
     
    
   
   
    
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