New England Wildflowers: A Guide to Common Plants (Falcon Guide) - Softcover

Frank Kaczmarek is a professional biologist whose nature photographs have appeared in Fall Foliage (FalconGuides), as well as numerous magazines and calendars. He resides in Connecticut.

Frank Kaczmarek is a professional biologist whose nature photographs have appeared in Fall Foliage (FalconGuides), as well as numerous magazines and calendars. He resides in Connecticut.

New England is known for its rapidly changing and highly diverse climate. In any given year the weather can range from severe snow and ice storms to summer heat waves and prolonged periods of drought. There are four major geographic factors that play key roles in controlling the region's weather patterns. First, New England lies roughly halfway between the equator and the North Pole (from latitude 40o 58” N to 47o 28”N). This often results in moist, warm air from the south colliding with cooler and drier air from the north. Second, coastal orientation plays a factor. Cold ocean currents of the Atlantic flow along the eastern coast of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts while warmer currents flow along the southern Connecticut and Rhode Island coast. Third, the topography of the region is highly variable ranging from flat coastal lowlands to mountainous regions. Finally, New England's weather arrives predominantly from the west brought by a large upper level wind current known as the prevailing Westerlies that moves across the United Sates and southern Canada. The area averages 35 to 55 inches of total precipitation a year (with higher totals usually observed in the mountain areas). The region's growing season can be as long as 180 days in southern New England to as little as 120 days in the more northern parts.

The Changing New England Landscape: Since the arrival of the first European settlers some 400 years ago, the landscape of New England has undergone significant changes. Forests were more extensive in pre-colonial New England. Large areas of forest surrounding Native American settlements (particularly those along the coast) had a much more open feel to them and were park like in appearance. These areas had little underbrush as the native peoples regularly set fires as a means of controlling its growth. This helped to make travel and hunting less difficult. It was also useful in maintaining open the lands used for planting crops. The low population density of Native Americans (experts put the number at no more than 100,000) coupled with how they viewed and used the land helped to minimize their impact on the environment.

Europeans began to settle in the region in the early 1600's. The way the forests were used by the colonists differed dramatically from that of Native Americans. This difference in the way the land was viewed and utilized had a significant impact on the ecology of the region.

The colonists quickly cleared large portions of forest. The primary driving force for clearing forestlands was agriculture. As the population continued to grow, additional forestlands were cleared to provide more land for agriculture as well as grazing lands for livestock. The colonists saw in these forests an unlimited supply of timber. They favored wooden fences over stonewalls. Stonewalls which we have come to think of as a quintessential element of the New England landscape, were used only after the favored lumber for fence building became too scarce and expensive to continue using. In addition, timber also supplied heating and cooking fuel. A typical colonial household might burn as much as 30 to 50 cords of wood a year in this endeavor.