Coniferous forest – Includes areas with at least two thirds or more of the total canopy composed of conifers. In general, Red Pine forest and Jack Pine forest occur on dry fire-prone sites, while forests composed of northern conifers (such as White Spruce, Balsam Fir, White Cedar, and Black Spruce) occur on mesic fire-protected sites. White Pine forest occurs on sites ranging from wet to dry. In areas prone to fire or other disturbances, aspen and Paper Birch trees are common deciduous associates. In fire-protected areas, mesic northern hardwoods, such as Sugar Maple, Basswood and Yellow Birch, are common associates. The tallshrub layer ranges from continuous to sparse, and varies locally in composition. The groundlayer is composed primarily of forest herbs, and often feathermosses. Herbs capable of growing in acid needle litter–such as Clintonia, Partridge-berry and Rose Twisted-stalk–and herbs that commonly grow among feathermosses–such as Wintergreen, Pyrola, and Cow-wheat–are characteristic of coniferous forests.

The canopy trees of coniferous forests sometimes occur in mixtures, but often form relatively pure stands. The pines all require fire for stand regeneration, however the fire regime differs among the species. White Spruce and White Cedar are sensitive to fire and occur in areas that rarely burn. Black Spruce is adapted to fire as it has semi-serotinous cones. In extreme northern Minnesota trees growing in Black Spruce bogs readily seed into adjacent burned uplands. Typical bird species include Hermit Thrush, Black-billed Cuckoo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Ovenbird, Cape May Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-capped Chickadee, Chipping Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco.