Status of Old-Growth Red Pine Forests

Forest Landscape Baseline No. 14

Brief Progress and Summary Reports 1996

Ancient Forest Exploration and Research Home

Status of Old-Growth Red Pine Forests:
A Preliminary Assessment

The purpose of this preliminary report is to address the current status of old-growth red pine forest given the information currently available. Information provided by forest experts from a total of 19 political jurisdictions in Canada and the United States that coincide with the natural range of red pine forest was used. In addition, it was estimated (from Burns and Honkala (1990)) that the size of the range of red pine is approximately 40% less than the size of the range of eastern white pine. It was also estimated, using pollen data from Gordon (1990), that within its natural range, presettlement red pine abundance was only 50% of that for presettlement eastern white pine.

To estimate the amount of original old-growth red pine area, (1) the area of original old-growth eastern white pine (from Quinby (1993)) was reduced by 40% from 6 million hectares to 3.6 million hectares to reflect the range size difference between red and eastern white pine, and (2) the 3.6 million hectare figure was reduced by 50% to reflect the lesser abundance of red pine relative to eastern white pine resulting in an estimate of 1.8 million hectares of original old-growth red pine forest in eastern North America.

Based on the survey of forest experts, a total of 10,417 hectares of old-growth red pine forest remains in eastern North America (see Tables 1 and 2). It is likey, however, that additional unidentified stands exist, primarily in Ontario. To account for these unidentified stands, the estimate of 10,417 hectares was doubled to an estimate of 20,834 hectares which is 1.2 percent of the estimated amount of original old-growth red pine forest. According to Noss et al. (1995), this old-growth red pine forest ecosystem is critically endangered (<2% remaining).

Table 1. Old-Growth Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) Forest in Canada and the United States

POLITICAL JURISDICTION	RESERVE NAME	PROTECTIONSTATUS^*	LOCATION	SIZE (HA)
CANADA
Manitoba	none
New Brunswick	none
Newfoundland	Birchy Narrows	Unprotected	Sheffield Lake Map Sheet	1
	Charles Arm	Unprotected	Point Leamington Map Sheet	5
	David Smallwood Provincial Park	Protected	Gambo Map Sheet	5
	Exploits River	Unprotected	Botwood Map Sheet	1
	Georges Pond	Unprotected	Glovertown Map Sheet	20
	Grants Siding Development Area	Protected	Glovertown Map Sheet	400
	Howley	Unprotected	Deer Lake Map Sheet	15
	Mint Brook	Unprotected	Glovertown Map Sheet	1
	Old Stand	Unprotected	Sheffield Lake Map Sheet	1
	Overflow Brook	Unprotected	Noel Paul's Brook Map Sheet	100
	Rowsells Brook Ecological Reserve	Protected	Sringdale Map Sheet	200
	Strong Island Sound	Unprotected	Point Leamington Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 1	Unprotected	Deer Lake Map Sheet	20
	Sandy Lake 2	Unprotected	Deer Lake Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 3	Unprotected	Deer Lake Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 4	Unprotected	The Topsails Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 5	Unprotected	The Topsails Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 6	Unprotected	The Topsails Map Sheet	5
	Sandy Lake 7	Unprotected	The Topsails Map Sheet	10
	Terra Nova 1	Unprotected	Glovertown Map Sheet	2
	Terra Nova 2	Unprotected	Port Blandford Map Sheet	50
	Traytown	Unprotected	Eastport Map Sheet	5
Nova Scotia	none
Ontario	Dickson Lake Hemlock Nature Reserve	Protected	Algonquin Provincial Park	28
	Island Bay Red Pine	Unprotected	Phyllis Township	32
	Lahay Lake Red Pine	Unprotected	Delhi Township	37
	Lake Lavielle Red Pine Nature Reserve	Protected	Algonquin Provincial Park	92
	many stands	Unprotected	Lower Spanish Forest	1000^**
	Narrows Island Red Pine	Protected	Phyllis Township	40
	North Fowel Lake Nature Reserve	Protected	LaVerendrye Provincial Park	25
	Opeongo Red Pine Nature Reserve	Protected	Algonquin Provincial Park	230
	Rabbit Lake Old Growth	Protected	Riddell Township	473
	Shiningwood Bay Red Pine	Unprotected	Phyllis Township	62
	Turtle Lake Red Pine	Unprotected	Strathcona Township	78
	Wolf Lake Red Pine	Unprotected	Mackelcan Township	1600
Prince Edward Island	Murray River Pines Natural Area	Protected		4
Quebec	none

^* Only those areas that have legal protection are designated as "protected"

^** Estimate by author based on three years of field studies in the area

Table 1. Continued

POLITICAL JURISDICTION	RESERVE NAME	PROTECTIONSTATUS^*	LOCATION	SIZE (HA)
UNITED STATES
Connecticut	none
Illinois	none
Maine	Baker Pond	Unprotected	Somerset County	2
	Cathedral Pines	Protected	Franklin County	88
	Cliff Ridge Red Pine	Unprotected	Piscataquis County	3
	First Debsconeag Lake	Unprotected	Piscataquis County	2
	Gassabias Lake A	Protected	Hancock County	14
	Gassabias Lake B	Protected	Hancock County	4
	Lobster Lake Big Island	Protected	Piscataquis County	8
	Norways	Unprotected	Somerset County	18
	Number 5 Bog	Protected	Somerset County	10
	The Pines (Sysiadobsis Lake)	Unprotected	Washington County	2
	Pocomoonshine Lake	Unprotected	Washington County	3
Massachusetts	none
Michigan	Crawford Red Pines	Protected	Crawford County	7
	Roscommon Red Pines	Protected	Roscommon County	64
Minnesota	Burntside Island Sci. & Nat. Area	Protected	St. Louis County	5
	Eagles Nest Lake No. 4 Island Sci. and Natural Area	Protected	St. Louis County	2
	Itasca Wilderness Sanctuary Sci. and Natural Area	Protected	Itasca State Park	60
	Lac La Croix Research Natural Area	Protected	Superior National Forest	83
	Lost 40 Pine Stand	Protected	Chippewa National Forest	26
	Pine Point Research Natural Area	Protected	Chippewa National Forest	190
	many stands (146)	Protected	Itasca State Park	mean= 9
	many stands (23)	Unprotected	state lands	mean= 11
	many stands (148)	Protected	Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness	mean= 24
New Hampshire	none
New Jersey	none
New York	none
Pennsylvania	few stands (4)	Unprotected	Tioga County	mean= 10
Rhode Island	none	Protected	Addison County	40
Vermont	Battell Biological Preserve	Protected	Addison County	16
	Bristol Cliffs	Unprotected	Addison County	10
	Deer Leap	Unprotected	Addison County	8
	Herrick Mountain	Unprotected	Rutland County	2
	Pinneo Ridge	Unprotected	Chittenden County	2
	Prospect Rock	Unprotected	Lamoille County	2
	Roy Mountain	Protected	Caledonia County	15
	Spectacle Pond Natural Area	Protected	Essex County	6
	Willard Mountain Red Pine Forest	Unprotected	Essex County	1
Wisconsin	none
West Virginia	none

Table 2. Status of Old-Growth Red Pine (Pinus resinosa) Forest in Canada and the United States (all areas in ha)

POLITICALJURISDICTION	no. ofstands	total area	mean stand area	standarea range	area protected	%protectedof total	ecological status
CANADA
Manitoba	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
New Brunswick	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Newfoundland	22	866	39	1-400	605	70	endangered
Nova Scotia	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Ontario	12+	3697	308	25-1600	833	22	endangered
Prince Edward Island	1	4	4	---	4	100	endangered
Quebec	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated

UNITED S TATES
Connecticut	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Illinois	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Maine	11	154	14	2-88	124	81	endangered
Massachusetts	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Michigan	2	71	36	7-64	71	100	endangered
Minnesota	323	5485	17	2-190	5232	95	endangered
New Hampshire	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
New Jersey	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
New York	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Pennsylvania	4	40	10	10	0	0	endangered
Rhode Island	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
Vermont	9	100	11	1-40	77	77	endangered
Wisconsin	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
West Virginia	0	0	---	---	0	0	extirpated
TOTAL	384	10,417	27	1-1600	6946	67	ENDANGERED

% Remaining = 20,834/1,800,000 = 1.2%

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Forest Landscape Baselines are a periodic publication of Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to the study, protection and scientific application of ancient forested landscapes. Our publications are available online at www.ancientforest.org/publications.html

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