The Nature of New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a stunning mosaic of natural communities--recurring associations of plants and animals found in particular physical environments--encompassing habitats as varied as alpine meadows, riverbanks, forests, tidal marshes, ponds, and cliffs. Communities range from widespread types that may cover thousands of acres across broad areas of the state, to rare types that are small and restricted to a specific part of the state, to the White Mountains or Seacoast region. Each natural community occurs in a specific setting in the environment, from wind-exposed rocky summits at high elevations, to muddy coastal river shores flooded daily by tides. Each community supports its own unique ecosystem. Therefore, natural communities make very effective landscape units for biodiversity conservation. Following more than twenty years of ecological research, the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau developed the classification of the 193 natural community types presented in this book. In eight broad chapters (alpine, rocky ground, forests, peatlands, swamps, marshes, river channels and floodplains, and seacoast), The Nature of New Hampshire offers a close and colorful look at these natural communities and their important role in conservation planning and informed land stewardship.