the distribution of boreal and temperate species during the last glacial maximum (lgm) in eastern north america can have a significant effect on the genetic diversity of present day populations. here, i modelled the lgm distribution of several keystone deciduous tree species native to northeastern north america. the ecological niche modelling software, maxent, was used to generate a relative rate of occurrence that was used to infer the probable locations of glacial refugia. these predicted refugia were then validated by paleo-ecological records where available. the genetic variation of each species was assessed by a literature review of previous studies that used allozymes to determine the expected heterozygosity. the area of the refugia were then compared to the expected heterozygosity through a linear regression. the findings of this study indicated no significant relationship (r2 = 0.024) between refugia size and expected heterozygosity. the lack of data on expected heterozygosity likely skewed the results and further studies need to be conducted to correct for this.