Low scrub communities occur in moist areas and on north-facing slopes. The wettest sites support tall scrub swamps, low scrub bogs, or scrub-graminoid communities. Needleleaf forests are dominated by spruce and occur over a variety of site conditions. These forest stands follow the establishment of alder and willow thickets. Mixed forests are dominated by combinations of spruce, paper birch, and quaking aspen.
Bogs support open low scrub or scrub-graminoid communities.
A continuous moss layer, commonly consisting of Sphagnum spp. Mixed forest stands occur when spruce establishes in the broadleaf stands. Needleleaf forests dominated by spruce eventually replace the mixed stands on many sites. Wildfire Wildfires occur frequently in the Interior Forested Lowlands and Uplands Ecoregion. Low annual precipitation, high summer temperatures, low relative humidity, frequent lightning storms, and trees having branches low to the ground are factors that make this ecoregion especially prone to wildfire.