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): 111X–Indiana and Ohio Till Plain

111B – Indiana and Ohio Till Plain, Northeastern Part. This area is in the Eastern Lake and Till Plains Sections of the Central Lowland Province of the Interior Plains. The entire MLRA is glaciated, and most areas are dominated by ground moraines that are broken in places by lake plains, outwash plains, flood plains, and many recessional moraines. The ground moraines and lake plains in front of the recessional moraines are flat to undulating. In many places stream valleys occur at the leading edge of the recessional moraines. Narrow, shallow valleys commonly are along the major rivers and streams in this MLRA, and some areas along the major rivers and streams have deposits of sand. Elevation ranges from 630 to 1,550 feet (190 to 470 meters), increasing gradually from west to east. Relief is mainly a few meters, but in some areas hills rise as much as 100 feet (30 meters) above the adjoining plains.

The extent of the major Hydrologic Unit Areas (identified by four-digit numbers) that make up this MLRA is as follows: Western Lake Erie (0410), 41 percent; Wabash (0512), 28 percent; Scioto (0, 28 percent; Scioto (0506), 10 percent; St. Clair-Detroit (0409), 9 percent; Great Miami (0508), 6 percent; Southeastern Lake Michigan (0405), 5 percent; and Southwestern Lake Huron (0408), 1 percent. The Huron River in Michigan, Cedar Creek in Indiana, and the Sandusky River in Ohio have been designated as National Wild and Scenic Rivers in this MLRA.

The surficial materials in this area include glacial deposits of till, outwash, and lacustrine sediments from Wisconsin and older glacial periods. A thin mantle of loess occurs in some areas. Most of the MLRA is underlain by Silurian and Devonian limestone and dolostone. Middle Devonian to Early Mississippian black shale and Early to Middle Mississippian siltstone and shale are in some areas of the northern part of the MLRA.

Classification relationships

Hierarchical Classification Relationships
Major Land Resource Area (USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2006)

USFS Ecological Regions (USDA, 2007):
Sections –Central Till Plains, Beech Maple (222H), South Central Great Lakes (222J)

Subsections – Bluffton Till Plains (222Ha), Bluffton-Ann Arbor Till Plains (222Je), Jackson Interlobate Moraine (222Jg), Steuben Interlobate Moraines (222Ji)

NatureServe Systems anticipated (NatureServe, 2011): Agriculture - Cultivated Crops and Irrigated Agriculture, Agriculture – Pasture/Hay, North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest, North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods, Ruderal Forest, Ruderal Upland - Old Field

LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings anticipated (USGS, 2010): North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest

Ecological site concept

This site is a wetland site formed on lacustrine parent materials. It is located on lake plains, glacial lake relicts, and flats. The soils have very dark surfaces with a subsurface that is in the loamy textural group, and are very poorly or poorly drained. These soils generally occur on nearly level to depressional areas of stream terraces, till plains, and glacial lake plains. The site is occasionally flooded for a brief duration, but ponding occurs frequently to a depth of 30 inches for up to a month.

The characteristic vegetation of the site is that of a flatwoods type dominated by pin oak and swamp white oak. Black and green ash are also common in the canopy, with silver maple also being present in lower amounts. The large, seasonal fluctuation of water on the site allows for the co-existence of upland and lowland trees. Inundation of the site generally occurs in the spring which leads to a sparse and patchy understory. Fire did occur on the site, but high intensity fires were rare. Low intensity surface fires were more common on sites that are adjacent to more fire prone sites such as prairies and savannas. Ponding in the spring followed by summer drought along with windthrow were the most dominant disturbance factors. The High Graded state occurs after a selective timber harvest that removes the more desirable species, specifically oak species. That results in a site where the canopy is dominated by ash species, silver maple, and black gum. The understory stays relatively unchanged except for the younger age classes of oaks that are either reduced greatly in number or missing completely. A large portion of this site has been drained and is in agricultural production. The majority of the converted acres is used for small grain rotations, specifically corn and soybeans. A much smaller amount of the site is also used for growing forage that is used for pasture or hay production. These sites are predominately cool season grass species and legumes such as tall fescue and clover species.

Associated sites

Similar sites

Table 1. Dominant plant species