Background and aims: Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition can influence forest ecosystem N status, and the resilience of forests to the effects of N deposition depends on a number of co-occurring environmental factors that regulate N retention or loss. In this study, we test the idea that N deposition may have important and long-lasting impacts on patterns of N cycling by using field and laboratory techniques to assess N status in seven high-elevation Central Appalachian red spruce ( Picea rubens Sarg.) forests located at sites that historically received moderate to high inputs of N atmospheric deposition. Methods: During 2011 and 2012, we measured multiple indices of N availability (e.g. foliar/soil C:N and δN, resin ion-exchange, and N transformation rates) that integrate N cycling over seasonal to decadal time scales. Using a model selection approach, we compared the strength of the association between various environmental factors and temporally-integrated indices of N status in a series of regression models. Results: Site-level differences in the relative importance value of broadleaf deciduous (BD) trees consistently explained most of the observed variation in N status. Soil C:N was significantly lower for sites with greater BD importance ( R = 0.67-0.77), and there was a strong positive relationship between BD importance and soil δN content ( R = 0.64-0.85). Despite a four-fold difference in historic deposition across the seven forest sites, we did not observe any significant relationships between site N status and N deposition. Conclusions: These findings suggest that potential legacy effects of N deposition were obscured by the influence of BD importance on N status at these sites. Our results add strong support to the idea that predicting the resilience of forests to the effects of N deposition requires detailed knowledge on the contribution of tree species composition to soil N cycling and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]