MAHOOSUC Land Trust

Quaking and bigtooth aspen are familiar trees of the Mahoosuc region, but their similarities can make them difficult to tell apart. Larry Ely explores how to distinguish the two species, explains their remarkable ability to form long-lived clonal colonies, and examines their importance to wildlife and forest management.

Paper birch—New England’s iconic “white birch”—brings light and motion to the forest with its gleaming bark and graceful form. A fast-growing pioneer, it thrives in disturbed landscapes before yielding to longer-lived species, leaving behind quiet “birch graveyards” that tell the story of forest renewal.