Abstract: Multiple life stages contribute to the determination of an organism's reproductive success. For trees, pollination, seed production, germination and the survival of the germinated seedling to a reproductively mature adult all are required for reproductive success. Factors influencing the survival and growth of the seedling stage of Acer pensylvanicum L. were tested at Mountain Lake Biological Station in Southwestern Virginia . The understory community, competition from other vegetation, herbivory, water, nutrients and light were studied to determine which combination of factors yields the highest seedling survival and growth. Plots with 4 or more seedlings were set up in dense stands of ferns Thelypteris neveboracensis ,or sedges ( Carex sp .) and in areas of low competition with less than 5% cover with caged, open, watered, fertilized and clipped vegetation plots in a randomized factorial design. Responses such as leaf length, leaf area, number of leaves and survival were measured to compare the effects of treatment combinations. Bare plots with less than 5% cover had the lowest survival and growth and caging increased survival. Clipping of ferns increased growth but watering had no effect on the seedling growth or survival. These results indicate that high light and high competition with other vegetation may be preferred over low light low competition environments. Competition with adult Striped Maples for light may have also been important in the bare plots which had denser Striped Maple canopies than the fern or sedge plots. Herbivory and disease are also factors that may have been more prevalent in the bare plots and further research is needed to determine this relationship.