In landscapes dominated by late-succes- sional plant communities, early-successional species may lead a tenuous existence, persisting only as fugitives or relying on refuges in marginal habitats to provide a persistent seed source. The objective of this study was to relate fine-scale distributions of early- successional tree species in hemlock-hardwood forests of northern Wisconsin, USA to potential landscape persistence strategies. A special emphasis was placed on eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), a restoration priority in the region. Witness tree data from nine- teenth century US Public Land Survey records (encompassing 40,610 km 2 and 106,790 trees) were used with modern environmental data to relate species distributions to habitat characteristics. Early-succes- sional tree species had strong positive associations with marginal habitats such as inclusions of sandy soil and margins of lakes, wetlands, and rivers. Marginal habitats occupied*44 % of the landscape, which may help account for the abundance of early-successional species in our study area relative to other hemlock- hardwood forests. Populations of early-successional species in marginal habitats could also have provided important seed sources for the upland mesic landscape matrix, as(70 % of the landscape was within 200 m of these habitats. The degree to which early-succes- sional species were limited to marginal habitats largely followed predictions based on species life- history characteristics, except that white pine was more common than expected in upland mesic habitats. These findings illustrate the potential importance of landscape heterogeneity for persistence of early- successional species in late-successional forest land- scapes and provide baseline information on habitat associations and landscape dynamics that will be useful in restoration efforts.