Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest
The southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest is an ecoregion of the temperate coniferous forests biome, a type of montane coniferous forest that grows in the highest elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States.
The southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest is the highest and coldest forest type in the Appalachian range, thriving in elevations above 5,500 feet (1,700 m) where the climate is too harsh to support the broad-leaved hardwood forest that dominates the region's lower elevations. A relict of the last Ice Age, this forest type covers just over 100 square miles (260 km2), and is considered the second-most endangered ecosystem in the United States.
Southern spruce–fir stands consist primarily of two needle-leaved evergreen species—the red spruce and the Fraser fir, nicknamed the "he-balsam" and "she-balsam," respectively. Regional entities sometimes refer to the southern spruce–fir forest as the "Canadian" or "boreal" forest due to its resemblance to the boreal forest of Canada. While southern spruce–fir forests are similar to the boreal forests, and are home to a number of plant and animal species that are more common at northern latitudes, the southern spruce–fir is nevertheless a disjunct and unique ecosystem.
Over the past two centuries, the southern spruce–fir stands have been decimated by logging, pollution, and an infestation of invasive insects. The southern spruce–fir forest is home to an endangered species, the spruce–fir moss spider, and several threatened species. While red spruce is common throughout North America, the Fraser fir—a relative of the balsam fir—is found only in the spruce–fir stands of southern Appalachia. In the second half of the 20th century, nearly all of the mature Fraser firs of southern Appalachia were killed off by the balsam woolly adelgid—a parasite introduced from Europe around 1900.
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