Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site F149BY011MA
Well Drained Till Uplands
Last updated: 9/17/2024
Accessed: 12/22/2024
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): 149B–Long Island-Cape Cod Coastal Lowland
149B—Long Island-Cape Cod Coastal Lowland
This area is in the Embayed Section of the Coastal Plain Province of the Atlantic Plain. It is part of the partially submerged coastal plain of New England. It is mostly an area of nearly level to rolling plains, but it has some steeper hills (glacial moraines). Ridges border the lower plains. The Peconic and Carmans Rivers are on the eastern end of Long Island. The parts of this area in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have no major rivers. This entire area is made up of deep, unconsolidated glacial outwash deposits of sand and gravel. A thin mantle of glacial till covers most of the surface. Some moraines form ridges and higher hills in this area of generally low relief. Sand dunes and tidal marshes are extensive along the coastline.
Classification relationships
USDA-NRCS (USDA, 2006):
Land Resource Region (LRR): S—Northern Atlantic Slope Diversified Farming Region
Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 149B—Long Island-Cape Cod Coastal Lowland
USDA-FS (Cleland et al., 2007):
Province: 221 Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province
Section: 221A Lower New England
Subsection: 221Ab Cape Cod Coastal Lowland and Islands
Subsection: 221An Long Island Coastal Lowland and Moraine
Ecological site concept
The site consists of very deep, well drained, coarse-loamy soils formed in glacial till. They are on nearly level through moderately steep soils on moraines. Representative soil is Barnstable.
The reference plant community is considered to be an oak-pitch pine forest. Oaks were found to be dominant on terminal moraines within Cape Cod while pitch pine dominated sandy outwash sites (Parshall et al. 2003). Common oaks include black oak, scarlet oak, white, and scrub oak. Pitch pine is subdominant with lesser amounts of beech and hickories. Common shrubs include lowbush blueberry and black huckleberry. Post settlement clearing of forests and an increase in fire has led to a dominance of pitch pine over oaks on terminal moraines within Cape Cod (Parshall et al. 2003). In the absence of severe or frequent fire, oaks replaces pitch pine while other hardwoods such as beech and hickories become a larger component of the forests on more mesic sites.(Parshall et al. 2003).
Associated sites
| F149BY010MA |
Moist Till Uplands Moist Till |
|---|
Similar sites
| F149BY006NY |
Well Drained Outwash Well-drained outwash |
|---|
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
(1) Quercus velutina |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
(1) Vaccinium angustifolium |
| Herbaceous |
Not specified |
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