The Woods / northeastern hardwoods
The forest
before the lumber.
New York hardwoods grow in communities shaped by soil, water, climate, disturbance, and time. This page is the regional context behind the material.
New York State overview / not a site-specific forest inventoryA heavily forested state.
New York is 62% forested.
NYSDEC reports 18.6 million forested acres and more than 100 commercial and non-commercial tree species. Maple-beech-birch accounts for 55.1% of forest land; oak-hickory is the second-largest forest-type group.
NYSDEC forest overviewForest communities
Sugar maple / American beech / yellow birch
Northern hardwoods
This is New York's defining hardwood association. The maple-beech-birch group covers more forest land than any other type. Black cherry, white ash, basswood, red maple, and hemlock can appear as associates.
Red oak / white oak / shagbark hickory
Oak + hickory
Oak-hickory is New York's second-largest forest-type group. Its exact mix changes with soil, moisture, slope, disturbance, and deer pressure.
Red maple / ash / elm / cottonwood
Lake plain + wet ground
Niagara County lies in the Great Lakes plain, where drainage and land-use history can change over short distances. Wet pockets support a different mix than a dry upland ridge.
Black cherry / red maple / ash / mixed pioneers
Edges + second growth
Many northeastern woods carry the record of former fields, wind, cutting, fire, insects, and regrowth. Age, disturbance, and regeneration help explain what is present now.
Tree, site, log, board
The species name is only the beginning.
Growing site, competition, age, storm history, insects, mineral uptake, log position, and sawing orientation all leave evidence in lumber.
That is why Tusky describes the actual piece instead of treating the forest like a uniform catalog.
Know your lumber