Eastern Temperate Forests
The Eastern Temperate Forests is a Level I ecoregion of North America designated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in its North American Environmental Atlas. The region covers much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States, the U.S. Interior Highlands, and parts of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. Description The Eastern Temperate Forests of North America are a vast and diverse region. Stretching inland from the Atlantic coast about 385 miles (620 km), they reach from Michigan in the north and Texas in the south; they cover the land of New England to Florida, Alabama to Michigan, and Missouri to the Appalachian Mountains. This ecoregion enjoys a mild and moist climate, though it is generally warmer as latitude decreases and drier as longitude increases. Warm summers and mild to cool winters have provided favorable growing conditions for a number of plant species, the dominant being large, broadleaf, deciduous trees and (to a lesser extent) needle-leaf, coniferous, evergreen trees. Indeed, before the arrival of Europeans, this area was almost completely forested. After their arrival a few centuries ago, much of the eastern forests had been cleared for timber and to make way for cropland. In more recent time, however, these