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How to identify — White birch, also called paper birch, is readily identifiable by its white bark. It can be distinguished from the closely related gray birch by the way its bark peels in sheets rahter than fine shreds. Its leaves are oval shaped and finely toothed, whereas gray birch leaves are more heart shaped. At high elevations white birch leaves are also heart shaped; this form is now recognized as a separate species (heartleaved paper birch or Betula cordifolia). Habitat/Distribution — White birch is widely distributed across the colder regions of North America from Alaska to the Canadian Maritimes and south to the northern Cascade Mountains, the Great Lakes states and New England. It extends to the limits for forest growth in both the subarctic region of Canada and Alaska as well as on the upper elevations of mountains. It grows on a wide variety of soils, from peaty bogs to thin rocky ridgetops. Ecology — The legendary birch of Abenaki and Mohawk canoes, this tree is a sun-loving opportunist that require disturbance to become established. Following major disturbance (such as fire), white birch may be found in combination with other deciduous trees on richer soils or with spruce and fir in cold valleys or higher elevation ridges and mountains. Because of its fast growth it may dominate young stands for several decades, forming the beautiful birch groves for which New England is famous. However, as forests mature, white birch is doomed to succumb to the shade from slower-growing but taller trees, and rarely lives beyond 125 years of age. The buds and seeds are food for ruffed grouse, and the twigs, which are brittle and shed in quantity each winter, feed snowshoe hare, moose and deer. It is an important food for beaver, though less preferable than aspen or alder. Environmental Change Issues — Because white birch is a species of cold climates it could be significantly affected by global climate change, with a warmer climate reducing its presence in the forests of New England. |
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