Ohio is home to many forests with a mix of trees that grow in moist soils. These forests contain deciduous trees in well-drained, loamy soil with lots of leaf litter and decomposing leaves that release nutrients. In Northeast Ohio, these forests were once filled with diverse native wildflowers, but they now support fewer species due to an overpopulation of white-tailed deer.

Woods garden forests attract many rare forest bird species, including magnolia warbler, yellow-throated vireo, winter wren, and veery. Mammals include gray foxes, raccoons, chipmunks, and star-nosed moles. Pollinators such as West Virginia white butterflies, polyphemous moths, and tuliptree silkmoths are also found in these forests.