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): 111X–Indiana and Ohio Till Plain

111B – Indiana and Ohio Till Plain, Northeastern Part. This area is in the Eastern Lake and Till Plains Sections of the Central Lowland Province of the Interior Plains. The entire MLRA is glaciated, and most areas are dominated by ground moraines that are broken in places by lake plains, outwash plains, flood plains, and many recessional moraines. The ground moraines and lake plains in front of the recessional moraines are flat to undulating. In many places stream valleys occur at the leading edge of the recessional moraines. Narrow, shallow valleys commonly are along the major rivers and streams in this MLRA, and some areas along the major rivers and streams have deposits of sand. Elevation ranges from 630 to 1,550 feet (190 to 470 meters), increasing gradually from west to east. Relief is mainly a few meters, but in some areas hills rise as much as 100 feet (30 meters) above the adjoining plains.

The extent of the major Hydrologic Unit Areas (identified by four-digit numbers) that make up this MLRA is as follows: Western Lake Erie (0410), 41 percent; Wabash (0512), 28 percent; Scioto (0, 28 percent; Scioto (0506), 10 percent; St. Clair-Detroit (0409), 9 percent; Great Miami (0508), 6 percent; Southeastern Lake Michigan (0405), 5 percent; and Southwestern Lake Huron (0408), 1 percent. The Huron River in Michigan, Cedar Creek in Indiana, and the Sandusky River in Ohio have been designated as National Wild and Scenic Rivers in this MLRA.

The surficial materials in this area include glacial deposits of till, outwash, and lacustrine sediments from Wisconsin and older glacial periods. A thin mantle of loess occurs in some areas. Most of the MLRA is underlain by Silurian and Devonian limestone and dolostone. Middle Devonian to Early Mississippian black shale and Early to Middle Mississippian siltstone and shale are in some areas of the northern part of the MLRA.

Classification relationships

Major Land Resource Area (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2006)

USFS Ecological Regions (USDA, 2007):
Sections –Central Till Plains, Beech Maple (222H), South Central Great Lakes (222J)

Subsections – Bluffton Till Plains (222Ha), Bluffton-Ann Arbor Till Plains (222Je), Jackson Interlobate Moraine (222Jg), Steuben Interlobate Moraines (222Ji)

NatureServe Systems anticipated (NatureServe, 2011): Agriculture - Cultivated Crops and Irrigated Agriculture, Agriculture – Pasture/Hay, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland

LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings anticipated (USGS, 2010): North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland

Ecological site concept

This site is an upland site formed on glacial outwash parent materials in soils that are somewhat poorly to moderately well drained. The soils have a relatively light soil surface color (lighter than 3/2 Munsell) with a mostly loamy subsurface texture group.

This woodland site was, historically, a mixed hardwood site with sugar maple and red oak being the dominant canopy species. Canopy associates include American beech, basswood, black cherry, and white oak. Fires were low frequency, high intensity events on the site at maturity and occurred very rarely, and even then only after large windthrow events or extreme drought. Low intensity, surface fires were more common in the mid seral stages when more fire tolerant species, oaks specifically, were more dominant in the canopy. Small gap disturbances are the most common overall disturbance mechanism and often result from windthrow or disease. Selective tree harvest moves the site to a new state where the canopy becomes dominated by less desirable timber species like beech, basswood, hickory and elm species. Currently, large areas of the site have been converted for agricultural use, mostly row crops, but some are being used for hay and pasture as well.

Associated sites

Similar sites

Table 1. Dominant plant species