Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F146XY071ME
Sandy
Accessed: 04/20/2024
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.
Ecological site concept
This site occurs on deep sandy and gravelly deposits associated with eskers, kames, outwash plains and outwash terraces. Soils range from excessively drained, which are sandy throughout, to well-drained which have a gravelly or sandy loam cap over a sandy subsoil. All of these soils formed in deposits of coarse sediment by fast-moving glacial meltwater. These landforms are dominated by softwoods, particularly red pine, white pine, hemlock and/or red spruce with sparse understory cover. However, hardwood and herbaceous species are more abundant where soils are loamier. Common hardwood species are red maple, white birch, bigtooth aspen, and black cherry.
This site is subject to logging, wind, insects and disease, and other natural and human disturbances resulting in a variety of alternative states. Cultivated sites occur on flatter slopes, and are mostly pasture or hay land. Abandoned hay land may transition to pine, spruce-fir, or reference pine-dominated mixed-conifer forests.
When managed for timber production, several different ecological states are possible. The pine forest state, reference mixed conifer state, and spruce-fir state are managed to maintain dominance of their respective conifer species, and to facilitate profitable harvests along predictable timelines. Hemlock forests may also result from logging practices, though these are typically less-desirable and may result from selective harvest of more valuable species, leaving the hemlock behind. As hemlock increases on the site, it inhibits the establishment of other species by shading, reducing soil moisture availability to other plants, and especially by acidifying the soil.
With sufficient economic inputs, any of the states that occur on this site may transition from one to another, however, due to cost limitations, forests are typically managed for whatever timber species are currently present on the site.
Associated sites
F146XY072ME |
Loamy Over Sandy This site may grade into the Loamy over Sandy site as soil textures become finer. This results in increased hardwoods and decreased conifers. |
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Similar sites
F146XY072ME |
Loamy Over Sandy The Loamy over Sandy site occurs on similar landforms as the Sandy site, but has finer soil textures, wetter drainage classes, and greater hardwood abundance. |
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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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