An Old Circumneutral Red Cedar Rocky Outcrop Community In the Pawtuckaway Mountains, New Hampshire

abstract Red cedar woodlands on circumneutral outcrops are a rare type of natural community in New Hampshire (S1—Critically Imperiled) and across its global range (G3—Vulnerable). The most studied example in the state, first observed by New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau ecologists over 15 years ago, was surveyed and formally documented in 2016 and 2017 from three adjacent slopes of the ring-dike complex known as the Pawtuckaway Mountains in Nottingham and Deerfield, NH. Stand-age studies suggest the red cedar woodland may have existed as a stable community at this site for many centuries. Since examining this site in the Pawtuckaway Mountains, one other circumneutral red cedar rocky outcrop community with similar plant species composition and cover in a comparable physical setting has been documented in southern New Hampshire. Here, we newly describe the circumneutral red cedar rocky outcrop community in New Hampshire.