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): 095X–Eastern Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, and Upper Michigan Drift Plain

This MLRA is characterized by nearly level to rolling till plains, outwash plains, drumlin fields, and glacial lake plains. It is used to produce cash crops, feed grain, and livestock. It includes the shorelines of Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan. This area is in Wisconsin (85 percent), Illinois (10 percent), and Michigan (5 percent). It makes up about 17,255 square miles (44,690 square kilometers). This area is in the Central Lowland province of the Interior Plains. Most of the area is in the Eastern Lake section. A narrow strip along the southwestern edge of the area is in the Wisconsin Driftless section. The southwestern quarter is in the Till Plains section. The nearly level to rolling till plains, glacial lake plains, and outwash plains are mixed with drumlin fields, ground moraines, end moraines, flood plains, lake terraces, beaches, dunes, swamps, and marshes. Most of the southern part of this area has belts of morainic hills and ridges and nearly level outwash terraces. Drumlins are prominent features in the central part of the area. Glaciokarst topography occurs in the east-central parts of the area influenced by underlying Niagara Dolomite. Lakes and streams are numerous, and streams generally form a dendritic drainage pattern. Elevation ranges from 530 to 1,580 feet (160 to 480 meters). Local relief is mainly 25 feet (8 meters), but the moraines, drumlins, and bedrock escarpments rise 80 to 330 feet (25 to 100 meters) above the adjacent valleys.

The annual precipitation ranges from 28 to 37 inches (700 to 950 millimeters) with a mean of 33 inches (840 millimeters). The annual temperature ranges from 41 to 48 degrees F (5.1 to 9.2 degrees C) with a mean of 46 degrees F (7.7 degrees C). The freeze-free period ranges from 115 to 185 days with a mean of 155 days. It decreases in length from south to north and from the shore of Lake Michigan inland. Lake Michigan helps to moderate the climate of the area.

This MLRA is mostly covered with glacial drift of Wisconsin age. Some of the higher areas are moraines that appear as arc-shaped ridges representing the retreat of the ice from south to north. Most of the bedrock in the area consists of Silurian, Ordovician, and Cambrian sandstone, limestone, and dolomite. Some igneous and metamorphic rocks underlie the northwestern edge of the area. Devonian limestone and shale occur at the far eastern edge in the Milwaukee area.

The dominant soil orders in this MLRA are Alfisols, Entisols, Histosols, Mollisols, and Spodosols. The soils in the area dominantly have a mesic or frigid temperature regime, an aquic or udic moisture regime, and mixed mineralogy. They are very deep, excessively drained to very poorly drained, and sandy to clayey. Areas of Spodosols and soils with a frigid soil temperature regime occur in the northern part of the MLRA.
The northern part of this MLRA supports natural stands of mixed northern hardwoods and pine. Sugar maple, oak, white ash, elm, yellow birch, white pine, red pine, and American beech are the principal species. Low-lying areas support both mixed hardwoods and conifers. Elm, soft maple, black ash, and northern white cedar are the major species. Brush and sedge meadows also occur in the low-lying areas.

The southern part of this MLRA supports hardwoods and prairie vegetation. Uplands support natural stands of oak, sugar maple, and hickory, and natural prairie vegetation is characterized by little bluestem and big bluestem. Many of the prairies have scattered oak and hickory trees. Low-lying areas support sedge and grass meadows and mixed stands of hardwoods and conifers. Elm, ash, eastern cottonwood, soft maple, and white cedar are the major species in the low-lying areas. (USDA-NRCS, 2022)

USDA-NRCS. 2022. Land resource regions and major land resource areas of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 296.

LRU notes

The Northeastern Wisconsin Drift Plain LRU (Land Resource Unit - 95XA) corresponds closely to the Northern and Central Lake Michigan Coastal Ecological Landscapes. Some of the following brief overview is borrowed from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Ecological Landscape publication (2015).

The Northeastern Wisconsin Drift Plain LRU is located along Wisconsin’s northeastern and central coast of Lake Michigan and the Door Peninsula. This glacial landscape is comprised of approximately 3.6 million acres (5,715 square miles). It is dominated by till plains and glacial lake deposits. The Green Bay and Lake Michigan Lobes are responsible for the formation of the landscape. The Green Bay Lobe covered most of the LRU, excluding the eastern edge where the Lake Michigan Lobe advanced. The glaciers were separated by the Niagara Escarpment, a 650-mile-long dolomite ridge that begins in Wisconsin near the Illinois border, extends into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and down through Canada’s Bruce Peninsula into Rochester, New York. Within LRU 95XA, the escarpment runs from Lake Winnebago northeast through the Door Peninsula. Much of the topography of this LRU is bedrock-controlled. Bedrock is generally deeper than 150cm except in the Door Peninsula, where bedrock is much shallower. Wetlands are common throughout this MLRA where drainage is impeded by fine-textured materials and shallow bedrock.

The northern portion of this LRU is dominated by an undulating till plain, gently sloping to the east, formed entirely by the Green Bay Lobe. This glacial lobe centered over the present-day city of Green Bay and flowed out in a fan shape, moving both south-southwest and south-southeast over the Door Peninsula. The lobe deposited loamy and coarse-loamy till mixed with dolomite fragments plucked from the bedrock. In some areas, the till has been reworked by Glacial Lake Oshkosh or overlain by its lacustrine deposits. Numerous drumlins formed, orientated to the south-southwest in the direction of glacial flow. Some eskers are present. Much of this area has dolomite and limestone within 50 ft of the surface. Proglacial streams formed small areas of pitted and unpitted outwash plains, terraces, and fans.

The Door Peninsula was formed primarily by the early advances of the Green Bay Lobe. The till found here is comprised of relatively old, calcareous loamy materials mixed with dolomite and limestone fragments plucked by the glacial lobe from the shallow bedrock. The till is thinly draped over the Niagara Escarpment that lies 1 to 3 meters below the surface. A drumlin field is oriented south-southeast, the direction of the ice flow over the peninsula. The eastern shore of the peninsula is composed of lake sediments that were reworked and deposited by Lake Michigan Lobe. The northern tip of the peninsula has glaciolacustrine beach terrace and ridge deposits and eolian sand dunes, which are remnants of the intra- and postglacial lakes Nipissing and Algonquin.

The central portion of this LRU is dominated by lacustrine deposits from Glacial Lake Oshkosh. In its largest stage, Glacial Lake Oshkosh covered 1.4 million acres. The lake formed from meltwater as the Green Bay Lobe receded between ice sheet advances. The glacial lobe stalled between present day Lake Winnebago and the city of Green Bay, blocking the drainage of meltwater north to the Lake Michigan Basin. Glacial Lake Oshkosh continued to rise until it found other drainage pathways, eventually draining into the Wisconsin River Valley. Glacial Lake Oshkosh reworked the till deposits of the Green Bay Lobe. Silty and clayey lacustrine deposits formed in the deepest area of the lakes, whereas sandy beach ridges, terraces, and dunes formed along the ancient shore.

The area east of Glacial Lake Oshkosh and south along the shore of Lake Michigan are dominated by a thin till sheet over the Niagara Escarpment that was deposited by the Green Bay and Lake Michigan Lobes. The Green Bay Lobe deposited calcareous clay and silty till reworked from lake sediments. The Lake Michigan Lobe deposited silt loam, loam, and compacted sandy clay loam till. Remnants of the intra- and postglacial lakes Nipissing and Algonquin are also found along Lake Michigan shore. Proglacial streams formed small areas of pitted and unpitted outwash plains, terraces, and fans.

Historically, the vegetation in this LRU was dominated by northern and central hardwood forests and wetlands. The northern hardwoods were comprised of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and American beech (Fagus grandifolia). The central hardwoods were dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American basswood (Tilia Americana), and American beech (Fagus grandifolia). Forested wetlands were a major part of the landscape, covering more than 25% in some areas.

Classification relationships

Relationship to Established Framework and Classification Systems:

Biophysical Settings (Landfire, 2014): This ES is largely mapped as Laurentian-Acadian Herbaceous Wetlands, Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp Forest, Laurentian Oak Barrens, and Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods Forest

Habitat Types of N. & S. Wisconsin (Kotar, 2002, 1996): The sites of this ES keyed out to Acer-Tsuga/Athyrium-Onoclea [ATAtOn] and Acer saccharum-Fagus/Arismaea (Acer saccharum-Fagus/Arismaea-Osmorhiza) [AFAs/AFAs-O].

WDNR Natural Communities (WDNR, 2015): This ES is most similar to the Northern and Southern Mesic forests described by the WDNR.

Hierarchical Framework Relationships:

Major Land Resource Area (MLRA): 095X–Eastern Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, and Upper Michigan Drift Plain

USFS Subregions: West Green Bay Till Plain (212Tb), Outagamie Loamy Till and Silty Lake Plain (212Za), Lake Winnebago Clay Plain (222Kc)

DNR Ecological Landscapes: Northern Lake Michigan Coastal, Central Lake Michigan Coastal, Southeast Glacial Plains

Ecological site concept

The Wet Sandy Lowlands ecological site primarily occurs in the north and west area of LRU 95XA. These sites are represented by a variety of Aquents and Aquolls. Parent materials are primarily outwash and glaciofluvial type deposits and may sometimes include a thin mucky surface layer, but otherwise have sandy surface textures. Wet Sandy Lowlands are often subjected to periodic flooding and ponding. The soils representing this ES are hydric and many are wetlands. Typical vegetation on these sites include Acer rubrum, Fagus grandifolia, Ilex verticilata, Cornus racemose, Amphicarpa bracteate, and Dryopteris carthusiana.

Associated sites

Similar sites

Table 1. Dominant plant species