Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F144AY035MA
Shallow Semi-Rich Well Drained Till Uplands
Accessed: 04/23/2024
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): 144A–New England and Eastern New York Upland, Southern Part
MLRA 144A: New England and Eastern New York Upland, Southern Part
The eastern half of the eastern part of this MLRA is in the Seaboard Lowland Section of the New England Province of the Appalachian Highlands. The western half of the eastern part and the southeastern half of the western part are in the New England Upland Section of the same province and division. The northwestern half of the western part is in the Hudson Valley Section of the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Highlands. This MLRA is a very scenic area of rolling to hilly uplands that are broken by many gently sloping to level valleys that terminate in coastal lowlands. Elevation ranges from sea level to 1,000 feet (0 to 305 meters) in much of the area, but it is 2,000 feet (610 meters) on some hills. Relief is mostly about 6 to 65 feet (2 to 20 meters) in the valleys and about 80 to 330 feet (25 to 100 meters) in the uplands.
This area has been glaciated and consists almost entirely of till plains and drumlins dissected by narrow valleys with a thin mantle of till. The southernmost boundary of the area marks the farthest southward extent of glaciation on the eastern seaboard. The river valleys and coastal plains are filled with glacial lake sediments, marine sediments, and glacial outwash. The bedrock in the eastern half of the area consists primarily of igneous and metamorphic rocks of early Paleozoic age. Granite is the most common igneous rock, and gneiss, schist, and slate are the most common metamorphic rocks. In the parts of the MLRA in northeastern Pennsylvania and in eastern and southeastern New York, Devonian- to Pennsylvanian-age sandstone, shale, and limestone bedrock is dominant. Carbonate rocks, primarily dolomite and limestone, are the dominant kinds of bedrock in the part of this MLRA in northwestern Connecticut.
Ecological site concept
The site consists of shallow, well drained and somewhat excessively drained soils formed in till. The soils are nearly level to very steep slopes on glaciated uplands hills and mountains. Soil pH is considered circumnuetral (pH 5.5-7.4). Representative soil is Farmington.
The reference plant community coincides with Red Cedar and hophornbeam with mixture of hickories and and hackberry the herbaceous understory is diverse with bristle sedge and mosses and lichens. Other more well-developed community may include the maple-basswood rich mesic forest (Eddinger et al. 2014) and sugar maple-chinkapin oak / bristle sedge community (Metzler and Barrett, 2006). Dominant trees are sugar maple, basswood, and white ash. Associated tree species include red oak, American beech, bitternut hickory, shagbark hickory, tulip tree, chinkapin oak, hop hornbeam, yellow birch, and American hornbeam. Characteristic shrubs include alternate-leaved dogwood, witch hazel, and mountain maple. The herbaceous layer is diverse with numerous species such as wild leek, trout-lily, dutchman’s breeches, squirrel-corn, nodding trillium, spring beauty, maidenhair fern, glade fern, bloodroot, and blue cohosh. The site is threatened by invasive exotic plants such as Japanese barberry, shrubby honeysuckle, buckthorn, garlic mustard, and multiflora rose.
The site is shallow to bedrock thereby limiting forest productivity relative to the Semi-rich Well Drained Till Uplands ecological site, which also occurs within MLRA 144A, but is deep to bedrock.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Juniperus virginiana |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
(1) Ostrya virginiana |
| Herbaceous |
(1) Carex eburnea |
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