Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F146XY081ME
Loamy Acidic Till
Accessed: 04/24/2024
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 in glacial till deposits on hill slopes, till plains, drumlins and ridges. Soils formed in lodgement till, which consists of 10-34 inches of loamy soil over a highly compacted layer of gravelly loam subsoil. This dense layer was compacted by the weight of overlying glaciers and impedes plant roots and water movement on the site. Drainage ranges from somewhat poorly to well drained. Slopes are typically moderate, but may be as high as 30 percent or higher. This site has a seasonally high water table between 16 and 41 inches in the winter and spring. During the summer and fall the water table is usually deeper, except following heavy rain events. Soil pH ranges from 3.5 to 6.5 and tends to be more acidic near the soil surface and less acidic in the dense subsoil.
Hardwoods are dominant on much of this ecological site, including yellow birch, sugar maple, red maple, American beech, and white ash. Softwood abundance tends to be higher where bedrock is within 40 inches of the soil, near drainageways, and on steeper slopes. Common understory species are intermediate woodfern, wild sarsasparilla, starflower, Canada mayflower, and striped maple.
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 cropland, pasture or hay land. Abandoned farmland may transition to pine, spruce-fir, or reference hardwood-dominated forests, often with an intermediate early seral forest phase.
When managed for timber production, several different ecological states are possible. The pine forest state, reference hardwood-dominated state, and spruce-fir state are managed to maintain dominance of their respective 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
F146XY032ME |
Loamy Till Bottom This site often grades into Loamy Till Bottom site at the base of hillslopes, where the slopes are less and groundwater seeps at or near the soil surface. |
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F146XY061ME |
Shallow Loamy Till The Shallow Loamy Till site grades into this site as soils become shallower, to a depth of less than 20 inches of mineral soil material. Usually the Shallow Loamy Till site is upslope of the Loamy Acidic Till site. |
Similar sites
F146XY082ME |
Loamy Calcareous Till The Loamy Calcareous Till site is very similar to this site in landscape position and most soil/site properties, but it has soil pH mostly above 6.0. These higher pH soils support greater amounts of sugar maple, basswood, American elm, and understory indicators such as Christmas fern. Higher pH soils are also more likely to be cultivated. |
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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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