It is native to eastern North America and is most commonly found in the northeast United States as well as southern Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

[4][5] The bark is smooth, a grayish-white or chalky color with visible lenticels and black triangular patches located at the base of branches.

[4] Twigs are slender, wiry, hairless, dull gray or brown in color, and have a warty or rough texture.

It ranges from southeastern Quebec along the St. Lawrence River east to parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, south through New England and upstate New York to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

[3] They are known as pioneer species since they are often one of the first trees to populate a disturbed area, such as fields, burn sites, and abandoned mines.

[10] This is due to birches in North America sharing a coevolutionary relationship with the borer, allowing it to develop resistance to the bug.

The wood is less sought after than paper birch due to its short lifespan, smaller size, and less common distribution.

[3] Gray birch also can serve as a nurse tree for smaller, more economically valuable pines that require some form of protection to become established.

[8] Prior to the European colonists' arrival to North America, the indigenous Iroquois and Mi'kmaq peoples used the inner bark of gray birch trees to treat infected cuts and wounds.