Native plant communities help you better understand your woods

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu

What is a native plant community?

Native plant communities are groups of plants that tend to grow together under similar conditions and resemble landscapes that existed before European settlement. Scientists classify these communities based on the plants present as well as the physical conditions that shape them — including soils, water movement, and natural disturbances like windstorms and floods.

When we better understand the ecosystems around us, we can make more informed stewardship decisions. Knowing your native plant community helps you understand how your woodland functions, as well as what management approaches are most likely to succeed. If you have a stewardship plan written, it may include a list of native plant communities on your property. Your forester may also talk about native plant communities when they are walking your land with you or as you are discussing stewardship strategies to meet your goals. 

How are native plant communities described? 

Each native plant community has a unique name and identifier code. One example of a native plant community is the Northern Wet-Mesic Boreal Hardwood–Conifer Forest (MHn44), found widely across northern Minnesota. 

This map shows the distribution of Northern Wet-Mesic Boreal Hardwood-Conifer Forest across northern Minnesota.

If you were to walk through one of these communities, you would find tree species such as quaking aspen, paper birch, and balsam fir; shrubs such as beaked hazelnut and chokecherry; and herbaceous plants like wild Canada mayflower, sarsaparilla, and sweet-scented bedstraw. 

Soils in this community have higher amounts of clay and therefore hold onto more moisture and nutrients. The most common natural disturbance event in this community is natural tree mortality from insect and disease outbreaks. Large-scale blow down events are estimated to occur every 960 years, and stand-replacing fires are estimated to occur every 430 years.

Using native plant communities to make better decisions

You can use native plant community information to: 

• Select tree species to plant or promote after harvesting.
• Learn which understory plants are expected so you can differentiate them from invasive species.
• Choose management strategies that mimic natural disturbance patterns common to the native plant community.

Say you are working with a forester and they have listed the MHn44 plant community in your stewardship plan. You may consider creating canopy gaps of various sizes that mimic the impacts of natural windthrow events, and then replanting the gaps with the characteristic tree species listed above. 

We highly recommend that you consult a forester to learn more about the native plant communities in your woods and to get a stewardship plan written. If you enjoy plant identification, you can also purchase the native plant community field guide for your area. These field guides will walk you through the process to identify the native plant communities on your property, but you will need to be able to identify trees and plants to be able to do so.