Like bigtooth aspen, quaking aspen is widespread across the entire state but it appears to be more common. Aspens are pioneer species, often invading areas after fires, blow downs, or other catastrophic events and they tend to associate with paper birch in these situations. Historically (circa 1800), aspen-birch forest only occupied around 4% of northern Wisconsin (Schulte et al., 2002) but it is now the second most common forest cover type in the region. This is due to historical logging and heavy management of the forest type for the forest products industry. See also P. grandidentata and P. alba.