Display Name: Yellow Cedar Ancient Forest by Priority Score
Description: Yellow Cedar Ancient Forests
The data in this layer duplicates polygons added to the Ancient Forest class within the Old and Ancient Forest layer. It is based on coring data (Brett and Ruddy 2019; Brett unpublished data) and the characteristics of yellow cedar which is a slow-growing, shade-tolerant, and exceptionally long-lived species. Numerous coring locations included trees>800 years and even >1,300 years. In the absence of coring data for each polygon, the presence of yellow cedar in the canopy layer is therefore the best available indicator that a forest stand is ancient. A total of 656 polygons meeting these criteria are duplicated here from the Old and Ancient Forest Habitat map. Also see notes in the metadata for that layer.