Natural Communities of New Hampshire

This complete list of the natural communities of New Hampshire contains links to pages with descriptions and photographs of each community type. On each page, the community's state rank is listed in parentheses after the name. The organization follows the same general pattern as the 2004 Natural Communities of New Hampshire technical manual, but this list also contains numerous revisions. (see also Photo Guide to NH Natural Community Systems)

Open Uplands

Alpine and subalpine communities

Alpine herbaceous snowbank and other wet-mesic alpine communities
• Alpine herbaceous snowbank/rill
• Moist alpine herb - heath meadow
• Alpine ravine shrub thicket

Dwarf shrub - sedge - rush meadows and shrublands
• Alpine heath snowbank
• Bigelow’s sedge meadow
• Sedge - rush - heath meadow
• Subalpine dwarf shrubland  (formerly: dwarf shrub - bilberry - rush barren)
• Diapensia shrubland

Krummholz and heath - krummholz
• Black spruce - balsam fir krummholz
• Labrador tea heath - krummholz
• Sheep laurel - Labrador tea heath - krummholz

Alpine/subalpine bogs and subalpine heath snowbanks (see also: Peatlands section)
• Alpine/subalpine bog  (formerly: wet alpine/subalpine bog)
• Wooded subalpine bog/heath snowbank
• Subalpine sloping fen  (formerly: subalpine sliding fen)

Sparsely vegetated alpine and subalpine communities
• Felsenmeer barrens
• Subalpine rocky bald

Landslides and talus barrens

• Montane landslide barren and thicket  (formerly: montane landslide)
• Montane lichen talus barren
• Temperate lichen talus barren

Cliffs

• Montane - subalpine acidic cliff  (formerly: montane acidic cliff and alpine cliff)
• Montane - subalpine circumneutral cliff  (formerly: montane circumneutral cliff)
• Temperate acidic cliff  (formerly: lowland acidic cliff)
• Temperate circumneutral cliff  (formerly: lowland circumneutral cliff)

Coastal dunes and inland beach strands

Open coastal dune communities
• Maritime sandy beach
• Beach grass grassland
• Bayberry - beach plum maritime shrubland
• Hudsonia maritime shrubland

Inland beach strands
• Hudsonia inland beach strand

Wooded Uplands

Spruce - fir zone

Spruce - fir forests
• High-elevation spruce - fir forest
• High-elevation balsam fir forest
• Montane black spruce - red spruce forest
• Lowland spruce - fir forest

Wooded talus slopes
• Spruce - moss wooded talus  (formerly: spruce - birch - mountain maple wooded talus)
• Birch - mountain maple wooded talus  (formerly: spruce - birch - mountain maple wooded talus)
• Subalpine cold-air talus shrubland  (formerly: subalpine cold-air talus barren)

Wooded rocky ridges and outcrops
• Red spruce - heath - cinquefoil rocky ridge
• Montane heath woodland
• Jack pine rocky ridge  (formerly: jack pine rocky ridge woodland)
• Red pine rocky ridge
• Circumneutral rocky ridge

Northern and transition hardwood - conifer zone

Acidic, primarily nutrient-poor forests
• Northern hardwood - spruce - fir forest
• Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch forest
• Hemlock - spruce - northern hardwood forest
• Hemlock forest
• Beech forest
• Hemlock - white pine forest
• Hemlock - oak - northern hardwood forest  (formerly: hemlock - beech - northern hardwood forest)
• Hemlock - beech - oak - pine forest
• Northern white cedar forest/woodland

Enriched forests
• Semi-rich mesic sugar maple forest
• Rich mesic forest

Oak - pine zone

Dry forests and woodlands
Forests and woodlands on glacial till, terraces, dunes, or sand plains
• Dry red oak - white pine forest
• Dry Appalachian oak forest  (formerly: dry Appalachian oak - hickory forest)
• Pitch pine - Appalachian oak - heath forest
• Maritime wooded dune
• Pitch pine - scrub oak woodland
• Red pine - white pine forest  (formerly: red pine - white pine - balsam fir forest)
• Mixed pine - red oak woodland
Forests and woodlands on rocky ridges, talus, or coastal headlands
• Red oak - pine rocky ridge
• Pitch pine rocky ridge
• Appalachian oak - pine rocky ridge
• Chestnut oak forest/woodland
• Coastal rocky headland

Mesic and dry-mesic nutrient-poor forests and woodlands
• Mesic Appalachian oak - hickory forest
• Oak - mountain laurel forest  (formerly: Appalachian oak - mountain laurel forest)
• Appalachian wooded talus  (formerly: red oak - hickory wooded talus)
• Red oak - black birch wooded talus

Enriched forests and woodlands
Forests on glacial till or river terraces
• Semi-rich oak - sugar maple forest  (formerly: semi-rich Appalachian oak - sugar maple forest)
Forests and woodlands on rocky ridges, colluvial slopes, or talus
• Rich Appalachian oak rocky woods
• Rich red oak rocky woods
• Red oak - ironwood - Pennsylvania sedge woodland

Wooded Wetlands and Floodplain Forests

Floodplain forests

Floodplain forests of major rivers
• Silver maple - wood nettle - ostrich fern floodplain forest
• Silver maple - false nettle - sensitive fern floodplain forest
• Sugar maple - ironwood - short husk floodplain forest
• Sugar maple - silver maple - white ash floodplain forest

Floodplain forests of minor rivers
• Swamp white oak floodplain forest
• Sycamore floodplain forest
• Red maple floodplain forest
• Balsam fir floodplain/silt plain

Boggy nutrient-poor swamps

Red maple and coastal conifer swamps primarily of central or southern NH
• Atlantic white cedar - yellow birch - pepperbush swamp
• Inland Atlantic white cedar swamp
• Atlantic white cedar - leatherleaf swamp
• Atlantic white cedar - giant rhododendron swamp
• Red maple - Sphagnum basin swamp
• Black gum - red maple basin swamp
• Swamp white oak basin swamp
• Pitch pine - heath swamp

Conifer swamps primarily of central or northern NH
• Black spruce swamp  (formerly: black spruce - larch swamp)

Minerotrophic swamps

Red maple and coastal conifer swamps of central and southern NH
• Red maple - black ash swamp  (formerly: red maple - black ash - swamp saxifrage swamp)
• Red maple - lake sedge swamp
• Red maple - sensitive fern swamp
• Seasonally flooded Atlantic white cedar swamp
• Seasonally flooded red maple swamp

Northern conifer and hardwood swamps of central and northern NH
• Northern hardwood - black ash - conifer swamp
• Northern white cedar - balsam fir swamp
• Acidic northern white cedar swamp
• Northern white cedar seepage forest
• Northern white cedar - hemlock swamp
• Red spruce swamp
• Northern hardwood seepage forest
• Larch - mixed conifer swamp  (formerly: black spruce - larch swamp)


Other forests with a seasonally high water table
• Hemlock - cinnamon fern forest
• Red maple - elm - lady fern silt forest
• Red maple - red oak - cinnamon fern forest

Forest seeps

• Acidic Sphagnum forest seep
• Subacid forest seep
• Circumneutral hardwood forest seep

Open Wetlands and Riparian Communities

Open river channels, riverbanks, and floodplains
River channels and low riverbanks
• Riverweed river rapid
• Hudsonia - silverling river channel
• Dwarf cherry river channel
• Boulder - cobble river channel
• Cobble - sand river channel
• Willow low riverbank
• Twisted sedge low riverbank
• Mesic herbaceous river channel  (formerly: herbaceous low riverbank and herbaceous sandy river channel)

Medium to high riverbanks and floodplains
Herbaceous and mixed herbaceous - woody
• Herbaceous riverbank/floodplain
• Bluejoint - goldenrod - virgin’s bower riverbank/floodplain
Shrub
• Alder alluvial shrubland
• Alder - dogwood - arrowwood alluvial thicket
• Meadowsweet alluvial thicket
• Mixed alluvial shrubland  (formerly: Alluvial mixed shrub thicket)

Riverbank outcrops, riverside seeps, and river bluffs
• Acidic riverbank outcrop
• Circumneutral riverbank outcrop
• Acidic riverside seep
• Calcareous riverside seep
• Dry river bluff
• Riverwash plain and dunes

Open emergent marshes, shrub thickets, and aquatic beds

Open-basins and streamsides
Meadow marshes
• Tall graminoid meadow marsh  (formerly: tall graminoid emergent marsh)
• Mixed tall graminoid - scrub-shrub marsh
• Sedge meadow marsh  (formerly: northern medium sedge meadow marsh and fenny marsh)
• Short graminoid - forb meadow marsh/mud flat  (formerly: short graminoid - forb emergent marsh/mud flat)
Emergent marshes
• Emergent marsh  (formerly: medium-depth emergent marsh and deep emergent marsh - aquatic bed)
• Cattail marsh
• Bayonet rush emergent marsh
Aquatic beds
• Aquatic bed
Open seepage marshes
• Herbaceous seepage marsh
• Lake sedge seepage marsh
Shrub thickets (non-peatland types)
• Highbush blueberry - winterberry shrub thicket
• Alder seepage thicket
• Buttonbush shrubland  (formerly: oxbow buttonbush swamp and buttonbush basin swamp)

Sandy pond shore, closed-basin, and sand dune settings
Sandy pond shore settings
• Sweet gale - alder shrub thicket  (formerly: sweet gale - speckled alder shrub thicket)
• Twig-rush sandy turf pond shore
• Bulblet umbrella-sedge open sandy pond shore
• Water lobelia aquatic sandy pond shore
• Hudsonia inland beach strand
Sand plain closed-basin marsh settings
• Meadowsweet - robust graminoid sand plain marsh
• Meadow beauty sand plain marsh
• Three-way sedge - mannagrass mud flat marsh
• Spike-rush - floating-leaved aquatic mud flat marsh
• Sharp-flowered mannagrass shallow peat marsh
• Montane sandy basin marsh
Coastal sand dune settings
• Coastal interdunal marsh/swale

Open peatlands

Mud-bottoms, open moss lawns, and flarks
• Liverwort - horned bladderwort mud-bottom
• Sphagnum rubellum - small cranberry moss carpet
• Large cranberry - short sedge moss lawn
• Water willow - Sphagnum fen  (formerly: water willow - Sphagnum lagg)
• Circumneutral - calcareous flark
Dwarf- and medium-shrub bogs and poor fens
• Leatherleaf - sheep laurel shrub bog  (formerly: leather-leaf - sheep laurel dwarf shrub bog)
• Leatherleaf - black spruce bog
• Northern white cedar circumneutral string
• Montane level fen/bog  
Sedge and shrub/graminoid fens
• Bog rosemary - sedge fen  (formerly: bog rosemary - sweet gale - sedge fen)
• Sweet gale - meadowsweet - tussock sedge fen
• Montane sloping fen
• Wire sedge - sweet gale fen  (formerly: hairy-fruited sedge - sweet gale fen)
• Alder - lake sedge intermediate fen  (formerly: speckled alder - lake sedge intermediate fen)
• Calcareous sedge - moss fen
Tall – medium shrub thicket/sparse woodlands
• Highbush blueberry - mountain holly wooded fen
• Montane alder - heath shrub thicket
• Winterberry - cinnamon fern wooded fen
• Sweet pepperbush wooded fen
• Alder wooded fen  (formerly: speckled alder wooded fen)
• Highbush blueberry - sweet gale - meadowsweet shrub thicket
• Mountain holly - black spruce wooded fen
Marshy peatland-margin communities
• Floating marshy peat mat
• Marshy moat

Alpine/subalpine bogs and subalpine heath snowbanks
• Alpine/subalpine bog  (formerly: wet alpine/subalpine bog)
• Wooded subalpine bog/heath snowbank
• Subalpine sloping fen  (formerly: subalpine sliding fen)

Estuarine Communities

Intertidal marshes
• Low salt marsh
• High salt marsh
• Brackish marsh
• Salt pannes and pools
• Marsh elder shrubland
• Low brackish riverbank marsh  (formerly: low brackish tidal riverbank marsh)
• High brackish riverbank marsh  (formerly: high brackish tidal riverbank marsh)
• Coastal salt pond marsh

Intertidal flats and shores
• Coastal shoreline strand/swale
• Intertidal rocky shore
• Intertidal flat  (formerly: saline/brackish intertidal flat)

Subtidal communities
• Eelgrass bed

Maritime Communities

• Brackish water pool
• Intertidal rocky shore
• Maritime cobble beach
• Maritime rocky barren
• Maritime meadow
• Maritime shrub thicket

DELETIONS

Click here to link to a list of communities that were included in the 2004 classification, but have since been deleted or combined/reclassified into other natural community types (NHB plans to publish a comprehensive list of changes and explanations)


Please see our Introduction to Natural Communities page for more information about natural communities. 

New! Photo Guide to NH Natural Community Systems