Status of Hemlock in the Eastern United States

Two native species of hemlock are found in Eastern North America. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a minor component of the forest resource in much of the Eastern United States, but forests with the highest densities of eastern hemlock are located in New England and the mountainous portions of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic (fig. 1). The second species, Carolina hemlock (T. caroliniana) is similar in appearance to eastern hemlock but is found only on rocky mountain slopes in a limited region covering portions of southwest Virginia, western North Carolina, extreme northeast Georgia, northwest South Carolina, and eastern Tennessee. The highest volumes of hemlock are found in the forests of New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania, but significant numbers of hemlock trees are present in many States (table 1). Status of Hemlock in the Eastern United States