Trees and Shrubs

Looking up into the tree canopy at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site

The vegetation at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, including over 30 tree species and more than 100 species of herbaceous and shrubby plants, is the product of a number of historical events and successional forces, including logging, grazing, mass wasting along the steep ravines, disturbance by beaver, and secondary succession. Over the last century, these factors have interacted in different ways to shape the character of the plant communities at the park. In some cases, this has transformed the vegetation patterns from what they were during the lifetime of Augustus Saint-Gaudens; in other cases, the forest cover has either remained very much as it was or has reverted to a state resembling the historic past.