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Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F146XY082ME
Loamy Calcareous Till
Accessed: 08/17/2024
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 is found on deep, moderately well to well drained soils derived from loamy glacial till deposits. These soils often have gravels or channers that are fairly soft and break easily. As this soft parent material weathers, important nutrients for plant growth are made available, accounting for the richness of the site for plant growth. Although surface pH can be very acidic, most of the soil profile has circumneutral pH values between 5.5 and 6.5.
On gentle slopes, these soils are very productive farmland and are almost entirely under cultivation. Where native vegetation is present, basswood, American elm, hophornbeam, and Christmas fern are indicators of this site, however, sugar maple, yellow birch, and white ash typically dominate. American beech and red maple are also common overstory species, with wild sarsasparilla, Indian cucumber root, starflower, Canada mayflower, and intermediate woodfern as common understory species.
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. It is unclear whether hemlock forests are capable of dominating on this site.
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 Calcareous Till site |
Similar sites
F146XY081ME |
Loamy Acidic Till The Loamy Acidic Till site is very similar to this site in landscape position and most soil/site properties, but it has soil pH mostly below 6.0. These lower pH soils do not support basswood other calcareous indicator species, but rather support other mixed hardwoods common to both sites. |
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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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