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<br />transitional between the terrestrial and palustrine systems, occurring on sites with <br />seasonally high water tables (within the tree-rooting zone) but do not flood regularly <br />and have mineral rather than peat soils. In accordance with the poorly drained sites <br />on which the Lowland hardwood forests occur, species tolerant of periodic soil <br />saturation dominate the tree canopy. American elms and black ashes are common <br />canopy dominants, but most stands are mixed, with slippery elms, rock elms, <br />basswoods, bur oaks, hackberries, yellow birches, green ashes, black ashes, quaking <br />aspens, balsam poplars, and paper birches as important species. The tall-shrub layer <br />is usually discontinuous and is composed of a mixture of upland and lowland shrubs. <br />The ground layer is composed mostly of upland herbs that do not root to the water- <br />table. <br /> <br />Lowland hardwood forest usually occurs in fire-protected areas, although even in <br />unprotected areas the community burns infrequently because the woody vegetation is <br />usually hydrated, especially in the spring. Lowland Hardwood Forest soils differ from <br />Hardwood Swamp Forest soils by being mineral rather than peaty and from the <br />mineral soils of other mesic upland forest types by being seasonally saturated (at <br />depths greater than 0.5 meters). <br /> <br />Lowland hardwood forest is often composed of late-successional species, but few <br />stands in Minnesota have old canopy trees, presumably because of wind throw and <br />infrequent episodes of killing floods. Lowland hardwood forest is topographically <br />transitional between upland forests and forested peatlands and is best developed on <br />flat terrain where such transition zones are broad (e.g., on river terraces above normal <br />flood levels, on loamy ground moraine, and on drumlin fields). <br /> <br />Floodplain Forests (MLCCS Codes 32210, 32211/350 Total Acres) <br />A total of 23 floodplain forests were <br />documented within the city. Floodplain <br />forest is a seasonally wet forest <br />community that occurs throughout <br />Minnesota on the active floodplains of <br />major rivers and their tributary streams. <br />The canopy of the community is <br />dominated by deciduous tree species <br />tolerant of inundation, abrasion, and <br />other disturbances associated with <br /> <br />City of Elk River, MN - Natural Resouce Inventory <br />Bonestroo Natural Resources, September 2004 <br /> <br /> <br />Floodplain forest, Buffalo Co. WI (WI DNR) <br /> <br />22 <br />