Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F134XY121LA
Baton Rouge Terrace Southern Loess Drainageway - PROVISIONAL
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): 134X–Southern Mississippi Valley Loess
MLRA 134, Southern Mississippi Valley Loess, is in Mississippi (39 percent), Tennessee (23 percent), Louisiana (15 percent), Arkansas (11 percent), Kentucky (9 percent), Missouri (2 percent), and Illinois (1 percent). It makes up about 26,520 square miles (68,715 square kilometers). The northern part of the area includes Paducah and Murray, Kentucky; Paragould, Jonesboro, and Forrest City, Arkansas; and Memphis, Dyersburg, Bartlett, and Germantown, Tennessee. The southern part includes Yazoo City, Clinton, and Jackson, Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Lafayette, and New Iberia, Louisiana. This portion is the farthest southeast part of the MLRA in Louisiana. It is in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains Section of the EPA Ecoregions in sub-section 74d, Baton Rouge Terrace. The dissected plains in this MLRA have a loess mantle that is thick at the valley wall and thins rapidly as distance from the valley wall increases. The Baton Rouge Terrace ecoregion occurs on the Pleistocene Prairie Terraces and is lower in elevation and has flatter topography than Ecoregion 74c to the north.
Classification relationships
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) and Land Resource Unit (LRU) (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2006)
EPA Level IV Ecoregion
The Natural Communities of Louisiana - (Louisiana Natural Heritage Program - Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries) - Small Stream Forest
Ecological site concept
Narrow wetland forests occurring along small rivers and large creeks, Occasionally to Frequently flooded for brief to long periods. These Sites are typically referred to as "Gallery Forests" in the "Cajun Prairie" Region but will be included in the Baton Rouge Terrace portion of the MLRA. Soil moisture is a major driver on this site providing wetness which reduced historic fires in these areas allowing increased growth of woody species. Level to nearly level rather wide flood plains and natural levees of streams that drain areas of the Southern Mississippi Valley Loess. Slopes range from 0 to 2 percent.
Associated sites
F134XY122LA |
Baton Rouge Terrace Southern Loess Stream Terrace - PROVISIONAL 134XY122 - Baton Rouge Terrace Southern Loess Stream Terrace is found at the next higher elevation from this site in the Baton rouge Terrace. |
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Similar sites
F134XY101MS |
Southern Rolling Plains Loess Drainways - PROVISIONAL 134XY101 - Southern Rolling Plains Loess Drainways fits a similar site position on the landscape, however is found in the Rolling Plains and Bluff Hills Portion of the MLRA to the north of this site. |
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Table 1. Dominant plant species
Tree |
Not specified |
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Shrub |
Not specified |
Herbaceous |
Not specified |
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