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Softwood (or coniferous) forest is mainly composed of needle-bearing trees. There are seven common associations of softwood forest in Nova Scotia:
1) White Spruce -- the major early successional forest, colonizing abandoned agricultural lands in Nova Scotia.
2) Spruce, Fir, Pine -- an early to mid successional forest resulting from fire and cutting practices on generally well-drained sites. Widespread across the province. Vertical zonation is often present.
3) Pine -- originates from fire and usually forms pure or mixed stands with other fire-successional species. Does not permit a luxuriant ground-vegetation growth, due to shade and a continuous shower of acidic pine needles.
4) Spruce, Fir -- a pure mid-successional coniferous forest. It regenerates on moist sites following logging and occurs as natural stands in a successional sequence on wet depressional sites.
5) Black Spruce, Larch -- the dominant forest cover of wet depressional areas and edges of bogs.
6) Spruce, Hemlock, Pine -- a near climax or climax forest on moist to relatively dry sites in much of Nova Scotia. Hemlock is no longer the dominant apecies due to extensive logging operations and its poor regenerative capabilities.
7) Balsam Fir -- the climax association of the boreal forest in Nova Scotia. Tree diversity is low, with 80% of the forest dominated by mature, relatively dense Balsam Fir.
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