Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F111XE302OH
Dry Restricted
Last updated: 9/11/2024
Accessed: 11/13/2024
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
111E – Indiana and Ohio Till Plain, Eastern Part. Most of this area is in the Till Plains Section of the Central Lowlands Province of the Interior Plains. The northeast tip of the area is in the Southern New York Section of the Appalachian Highlands. The entire area has been glaciated. It is dominated by ground moraines that are broken in places by kames, lake plains, outwash plains, terraces, and stream valleys. Narrow, shallow valleys commonly are along the few large streams in the area. Elevation ranges from 580 to 1,400 feet (175 to 425 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 plain.
The extent of the major Hydrologic Unit Areas (identified by four-digit numbers) that make up this MLRA is as follows: Scioto (0506), 33 percent; Muskingum (0504), 31 percent; and Western Lake Erie (0410), 28 percent; Upper Ohio (0503), 5 percent; and Southern Lake Erie (0411), 3 percent. The headwaters of many rivers in central Ohio, including the Vermillion, Black Fork, Sandusky, Little Scioto, and Olentangy Rivers, are in this MLRA.
This MLRA is underlain by late Devonian shale and sandstone. Surficial materials include glacial deposits of till, glaciolacustrine sediments, and outwash from Wisconsin and older glacial periods.
Classification relationships
Major Land Resource Area (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2006)
USFS Ecological Regions (USDA, 2007):
Sections –Central Till Plains, Beech Maple (222H), Western Glaciated Allegheny Plateau (221F)
Subsections – Allegheny Plateau (221Fa), Bluffton Till Plains (222Ha), Miami-Scioto Plain – Tipton Till Plain (222Hb)
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 generally formed on residuum weathered from limestone and shale. The depth to the restrictive layer is between 20 and 40 inches. Drainage is moderately well to well drained with slopes generally from 8-50%. This site is generally on steeper slopes and the soil is mostly shallower to the restrictive layer, with higher drainage than on the commonly adjacent Wet Restricted site (F111EY301OH).
This woodland site was, historically, a mesic oak forest site with oaks, both white and red oak, being the dominant canopy species. The combination of moderately deep soils and slope restricted the impact of fire to portions of the site. This allows the site have also have canopy level, shade tolerant species such as sugar maple with the oak species. Overall, the largest driver of species dynamics is that of gap-phase regeneration that contributes to the maintenance of the site as a mixed hardwoods. Selective tree harvest moves the site to a new state where the canopy becomes dominated by less desirable timber species like sugar maple, tulip tree, hickory and ash species. Currently, the areas with less slope have been converted for agricultural use, mostly hay and pasture, but some are being used for small grains as well.
Associated sites
F111XE301OH |
Wet Restricted Soils are SWPD |
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Similar sites
F111XE404OH |
Dry Outwash Upland Located on outwash parent materials; no restrictive layer within 38 inches of the surface |
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Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
(1) Quercus alba |
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Shrub |
Not specified |
Herbaceous |
Not specified |
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