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Understanding environmental factors related to exotic earthworm distributions across invasion stages (i.e., introduction, colonization, regional spread) is critical for assessing long-term impacts on previously earthworm-free forests. Studies following earthworm community establishment in North America, however, remain limited. We address this by characterizing historical and current exotic earthworm distributions in a regionally representative aspen-dominated forest, where their presence was first documented in the early 1900s. We map historic earthworm distribution records in a 360-km² area surrounding our current study site, and re-analyze data collected nearly 60 years ago to inform contemporary associations between species densities and environmental factors. Field surveys were conducted over two years (2008–2010) using 10 permanent plots, with concurrent measurements of environmental ‘effect …