Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Loamy Sandstone Uplands
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
Select a state
Management practices/drivers
Select a transition or restoration pathway
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Transition T1A
Stand replacing disturbance that includes fire.
More details -
Transition T1B
Removal of forest cover and tilling for agricultural crop production.
More details -
Restoration pathway R2
Deciduous forest community is slowly invaded by conifers.
More details -
Transition T2A
Removal of forest cover and tilling for agricultural crop production.
More details -
Restoration pathway R3A
Cessation of agricultural practices leads to natural reforestation, or site is replanted.
More details -
Restoration pathway R3B
Cessation of agricultural practices leads to natural reforestation, or site is replanted.
More details -
No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
Select a state
Description
Reference state is a forest community dominated by mixed conifers, principally balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white spruce (Picea glauca) and scattered individuals of northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), or white pine (Pinus strobus), often with admixture of several deciduous species, typically trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides ), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), or red maple (Acer rubrum). Depending on history of disturbance, two community phases can be distinguished largely by differences in dominance of tree species and community age structure.
Submodel
Description
The deciduous forest phase may be pure or mixed aspen and paper birch. Often red maple is an associate in this community phase. A shrub layer of beaked hazelnut is not uncommon on these sites.
Submodel
Transition T1A
Stand replacing disturbance that includes fire.
Mechanism
Stand replacing disturbance that may include blow-down or ice storm, but must include fire to eliminate slash and competing vegetation and expose mineral soil to allow aspen and/or paper birch to colonize the site by seed. Alternatively, if the disrupted reference state community included aspen trees, the species may become re-established by vegetative means, which typically is more successful than colonization by seed.
Mechanism
Removal of forest cover and tilling for agricultural crop production.
Restoration pathway R2
Deciduous forest community is slowly invaded by conifers.
Mechanism
Deciduous forest community is slowly invaded by conifers.
Mechanism
Removal of forest cover and tilling for agricultural crop production.
Restoration pathway R3A
Cessation of agricultural practices leads to natural reforestation, or site is replanted.
Mechanism
Cessation of agricultural practices leads to natural reforestation, or site is replanted.
Model keys
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Ecological sites
Major Land Resource Areas
The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.
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