Natural Resources
Conservation Service

Ecological site F101XY008NY

Well Drained Lake Plain

Last updated: 5/21/2020
Accessed: 04/30/2024

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General information

Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.

MLRA notes

Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 101X–Ontario-Erie Plain and Finger Lakes Region

Most of the MLRA is a nearly level to rolling plain. Low remnant beach ridges are commonly interspersed with a relatively level lake plain in the northern part of the area. Drumlins (long, narrow, steep-sided, cigar shaped hills) are prominent in an east-west belt in the center of the area. The Finger Lakes Region consists of a gently sloping to rolling till plain. Elevation is 330 to 1,310 feet increasing gradually from the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Oneida to the Allegheny Plateau, the southern border of the area. Local relief is mostly 10 feet, but the larger drumlins and many valley sides rise 80 to 330 feet above the adjacent lowlands or valley floors.

The bedrock underlying this area consists of alternating beds of limestone, dolomite, sandstone, and shale of Ordovician to Devonian age. Most of the surface of the area is covered with glacial till or lake sediments. The texture of the lake sediments is silt, loam, or sand. Ancient beaches, formed at different lake levels, form ridges along the shoreline of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Stratified drift (eskers and kames) and glacial outwash deposits are in many of the valleys. A large drumlin field occurs in the Finger Lakes Region.

Classification relationships

NRCS:
Land Resource Region: L - Lake States Fruit, Truck Crop, and Dairy Region
MLRA: 101 - Ontario-Erie Plain and Finger Lakes Region

Ecological site concept

Landform/Landscape Position:
The site occurs on lake plains and valley sides. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent.

Soils:
The site consists of very deep, well drained silty soils formed in glaciolacustrine sediments. Representative soils are Amboy and Dunkirk mapped within MLRA 101.

Vegetation:
The reference community is characterized by sugar maple, white ash, northern red oak, American beech, and black birch. Shrubs include American hornbean, witch-hazel, striped maple, red elderberry, and ironwood. Herbaceous plants include wood fern, Pennsylvania sedge, blue cohosh, and sessile-leaved bellwort.

Table 1. Dominant plant species

Tree	(1) Acer saccharum (2) Fraxinus americana
Shrub	(1) Ostrya virginiana (2) Acer spicatum
Herbaceous	(1) Dryopteris intermedia (2) Carex pensylvanica

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Physiographic features

The site occurs on glacial lake plains and valley sides. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent.

Table 2. Representative physiographic features

Landforms	(1) Lake plain (2) Valley side
Slope	0 – 60%

Climatic features

Table 3. Representative climatic features

Frost-free period (characteristic range)	136-140 days
Freeze-free period (characteristic range)	173-186 days
Precipitation total (characteristic range)	940-1,067 mm
Frost-free period (actual range)	135-140 days
Freeze-free period (actual range)	167-187 days
Precipitation total (actual range)	889-1,067 mm
Frost-free period (average)	138 days
Freeze-free period (average)	179 days
Precipitation total (average)	991 mm

Characteristic range

Actual range

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Figure 1. Monthly precipitation range

Characteristic range

Actual range

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Figure 2. Monthly minimum temperature range

Characteristic range

Actual range

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Figure 3. Monthly maximum temperature range

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Figure 4. Monthly average minimum and maximum temperature

Figure 5. Annual precipitation pattern

Figure 6. Annual average temperature pattern

Climate stations used

(1) SUNY ESF SYRACUSE [USC00308386], Syracuse, NY
(2) DELANSON 2NE [USC00302031], Delanson, NY
(3) ROCHESTER GTR INTL AP [USW00014768], Rochester, NY
(4) DUNKIRK CHAUTAUQUA AP [USW00014747], Dunkirk, NY
(5) LOCKPORT 3 S [USC00304844], Lockport, NY

Soil features

The site consists of very deep, well drained silty soils formed in glaciolacustrine sediments. Representative soils are Amboy and Dunkirk.

Table 4. Representative soil features

Parent material	(1) Glaciolacustrine deposits
Surface texture	(1) Silt loam (2) Very fine sandy loam
Drainage class	Well drained

Parent material

(1) Glaciolacustrine deposits

Surface texture

(1) Silt loam

(2) Very fine sandy loam

Drainage class

Well drained

Ecological dynamics

The reference community is characterized by sugar maple, white ash, northern red oak, American beech, and black birch. Shrubs include American hornbean, witch-hazel, striped maple, witch red elderberry, ironwood, and common blackberry. Herbaceous plants include wood fern, Pennsylvania sedge, blue cohosh, and sessile-leaved bellwort.

Wind, ice storms, and insects are common natural disturbances. High density of deer can limit oak regeneration. The site is susceptible to establishment of invasive species such as oriental bittersweet, barberry, multi-flora rose, bush honeysuckle, etc. The site is often high-graded for oak timber. In areas less than 20% slope, the site is suitable to conversion to agriculture (pastureland, hayland, cropland).

State and transition model

More interactive model formats are also available. View Interactive Models
Click on state and transition labels to scroll to the respective text

State 1
Reference - Mixed Hardwood Forest

Characteristics and indicators. Site was not cleared or cultivated historically.

Community 1.1
Old Growth Mixed Hardwood Forest

Mature closed canopy forest.

Community 1.2
Young Forest

Pathway P
Community 1.1 to 1.2

Wind, ice storm,, insect damage.

Pathway P
Community 1.2 to 1.1

Time; succession

State 2
Managed Timber Forest

Removal of trees of commercial value. Invasive species may be present.

Community 2.1
Timber Managed Forest

Forest managed for timber, primarily oak species. Depending on type of management birch, beech, and maple may dominate following commercial timber harvest.

State 3
Invaded

Invasive species abundant. Minimally managed forest.

Community 3.1
Forest with invasive species

Non-native and invasive species present (Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, bush honeysuckle, stiltgrass.

State 4
Pastureland

Site converted to pasture for livestock grazing or hay production.

Resilience management. Must be managed (grazed, mowed, etc.) to maintain pastureland.

Community 4.1
Introduced grasses and forbs for grazing, hay production, or wildlife

Community 4.2
Woody plant encroachment

Pathway P
Community 4.1 to 4.2

Lack of management (mowing, grazing, prescribed fire)

Pathway P
Community 4.2 to 4.1

Mowing, brush management, prescribed fire.

Conservation practices

Brush Management
Prescribed Burning

State 5
Restored and/or Minimally Managed Forest

Restored forest or second-growth forest.

Characteristics and indicators. Site was cleared and/or cultivated historically.

Transition T
State 1 to 2

Timber harvest.

Transition T
State 1 to 3

Establishment of invasive species.

Transition T
State 1 to 4

Land use conversion.

Conservation practices

Land Clearing

Restoration pathway R
State 2 to 1

Ecological restoration.

Conservation practices

Forest Stand Improvement
Forest Land Management

Transition T
State 2 to 4

Land use conversion

Conservation practices

Land Clearing

Restoration pathway R
State 2 to 5

Restoration pathway R
State 3 to 1

Invasive species management/removal.

Conservation practices

Invasive Plant Species Control

Transition T
State 3 to 4

Land use conversion.

Restoration pathway R
State 4 to 5

Ecological restoration.

Transition T
State 5 to 4

Land use conversion.

Additional community tables

Supporting information

Inventory data references

Site Development and Testing Plan:
Future work to validate the vegetation information in this provisional ecological site description is needed. This will include field activities to collect low and medium intensity sampling and analysis of that data. Field reviews should be done by soil scientists and vegetation specialists. A final field review, peer review, quality control, and quality assurance reviews of the ESD will be needed to produce the final approved level document. Reviews of the project plan are to be conducted by the Ecological Site Technical Team.

Other references

Edinger, G. J., D. J. Evans, S. Gebauer, T. G. Howard, D. M. Hunt, and A. M. Olivero (editors). 2014. Ecological Communities of New York State. Second Edition. A revised and expanded edition of Carol Reschke’s Ecological Communities of New York State. New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY.

Approval

Nels Barrett, 5/21/2020

Rangeland health reference sheet

Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health is a qualitative assessment protocol used to determine ecosystem condition based on benchmark characteristics described in the Reference Sheet. A suite of 17 (or more) indicators are typically considered in an assessment. The ecological site(s) representative of an assessment location must be known prior to applying the protocol and must be verified based on soils and climate. Current plant community cannot be used to identify the ecological site.

Author(s)/participant(s)
Contact for lead author
Date	04/30/2024
Approved by	Nels Barrett
Approval date
Composition (Indicators 10 and 12) based on	Annual Production

Indicators

Number and extent of rills:
Presence of water flow patterns:
Number and height of erosional pedestals or terracettes:
Bare ground from Ecological Site Description or other studies (rock, litter, lichen, moss, plant canopy are not bare ground):
Number of gullies and erosion associated with gullies:
Extent of wind scoured, blowouts and/or depositional areas:
Amount of litter movement (describe size and distance expected to travel):
Soil surface (top few mm) resistance to erosion (stability values are averages - most sites will show a range of values):
Soil surface structure and SOM content (include type of structure and A-horizon color and thickness):
Effect of community phase composition (relative proportion of different functional groups) and spatial distribution on infiltration and runoff:
Presence and thickness of compaction layer (usually none; describe soil profile features which may be mistaken for compaction on this site):
Functional/Structural Groups (list in order of descending dominance by above-ground annual-production or live foliar cover using symbols: >>, >, = to indicate much greater than, greater than, and equal to):

Dominant:

Sub-dominant:

Other:

Additional:
Amount of plant mortality and decadence (include which functional groups are expected to show mortality or decadence):
Average percent litter cover (%) and depth ( in):
Expected annual annual-production (this is TOTAL above-ground annual-production, not just forage annual-production):
Potential invasive (including noxious) species (native and non-native). List species which BOTH characterize degraded states and have the potential to become a dominant or co-dominant species on the ecological site if their future establishment and growth is not actively controlled by management interventions. Species that become dominant for only one to several years (e.g., short-term response to drought or wildfire) are not invasive plants. Note that unlike other indicators, we are describing what is NOT expected in the reference state for the ecological site:
Perennial plant reproductive capability:

Download reference sheet

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Natural ResourcesConservation Service

Ecological site F101XY008NY

Well Drained Lake Plain

Last updated: 5/21/2020 Accessed: 04/30/2024

General information

MLRA notes

Classification relationships

Ecological site concept

Table 1. Dominant plant species

Ecosystem states

States 2 and 5 (additional transitions)

State 1 submodel, plant communities

State 2 submodel, plant communities

State 3 submodel, plant communities

State 4 submodel, plant communities

Natural Resources
Conservation Service

Last updated: 5/21/2020
Accessed: 04/30/2024