·     Location: Abundant in the Northern Great Lakes region, around Canada.

  

      Climate: Red pine is native to areas with cool-to-warm summers, cold winters, and low to moderate precipitation. Within red pine's natural range the average January temperatures vary from -18° to -4° C (0° to 25° F) and the average July temperatures from 16° to 21° C (60° to 70° F). Average annual maximum temperatures range from 32° to 38° C (90° to 100° F), and average annual minimum temperatures range from -23° to -40° C (-10° to -40° F).

Climate effect: Humid continental climate in the Great Lakes Region. Prevailing winds from the West, precipitation from the Northeast winds picking up moisture over the Atlantic. Average annual temperature is 46.6 F.  Warmest is 70.2 F, coldest 21.5 F. Annual precipitation is 46.8 inches. September the driest, and November the wettest. Growing season averages 157 days.

Invasive Species: Many species that have caused a decrease in the red and white pine tree population are

Asian long horned beetle, emerald ash borer, and gypsy moth. These species then cause many diseases like white pine blister rust, red pine shoot blight, and oak wilt.

Indicator species: One indicator species would be the pygmy nuthatch. Nesting in live and healthy trees. 

Generalist Species: Canada mayflower. Most examples lack scrub oak, distant sedge, and slender mountain rice, species that are frequent in pitch pine - scrub oak woodlands.

Specialist species: Include the capercaille, crested tits, and Crossbills, including the large billed parrot crossbill, and Scottish crossbill. 

Top predator: Most of the top predators in this region are large mammals including the puma, cougar, jaguar, and coyote. 

Environmental Toxins: Depleting forest lands, wast from lakes region.

   

    Plants:

RED: Red pine, white pine, and balsam fir are characteristic tree species. Balsam fir is sometimes prominent in the understory as well. Species in the shrub and herb layers include wintergreen, velvet-leaf blueberry, lowbush blueberry, rough-leaved rice grass, and Mosses are often common. 

WHITE: The community has an open forest canopy dominated by red oak and white pine, with lesser amounts of other species such as red maple, paper birch, and gray birch, or black birch. Red oak may dominate to the near exclusion of white pine on rocky ridge examples, whereas white pine is more abundant on sites with sandy soils.

The understory is dominated by lowbush blueberry, black huckleberry, bracken, and sweet fern. Other species that may be present include maple-leaved viburnum, Pennsylvania sedge, distant sedge, and rough-leaved rice grass.

 NATIVE SPECIES: Characteristic Plants: These plants are frequently found in this community type. Those with an asterisk are often diagnostic of this community.

• Canopy
• Big-toothed aspen*
• Red pine*
• Red spruce*
• White pine
• Hemlock
• Sapling/shrub
• Balsam fir
• Red spruce
• Dwarf Shrub
• Black huckleberry*
• Herb
• Bracken fern
• Canada mayflower
• Starflower
• Wintergreen
• Round-leaved pyrola
• Bryoid
• Dicranum moss
• Red-stemmed moss

Recreation: Red pine has been grown primarily for the production of wood for lumber, piling, poles, cabin logs, railway ties, posts, mine timbers, box boards, pulpwood, and fuel. It has been one of the most extensively planted species in the northern United States and Canada, not only for wood production but also for dune and sandblow control, snowbreaks, windbreaks, and Christmas trees. Even when wood production is the main goal, red pine forests often are managed throughout their rotation for other uses such as recreation, wildlife habitat, and watersheds.

Video

Role of Fire: Maintaining the population of native trees by burning the over-populated region.

Sources: 

Division of Forests and Lands: http://www.nhdfl.org/about-forests-and-lands/bureaus/natural-heritage-bureau/photo-index/redpine-whitepine-forest.aspx

Ecology and Management of Northern Forests:  http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/durham/4155/massabes.htm

United States Department of Agriculture: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/invasive_species/