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<br />The soils in mesic prairie are predominantly mollisols with thick, dark mineral suriace <br />layers that have high base saturation. They range in texture and drainage from silty <br />and somewhat poorly drained to sandy and somewhat excessively drained, with <br />moderately well-drained to well-drained, loamy soils being most common. Mesic <br />prairie can grade into wet prairie on moister sites and into the hill and sand-gravel <br />subtypes of dry prairie on drier sites. Separation of mesic prairie from other prairie <br />types is based primarily on landform or substrate characteristics rather than on <br />species composition, as floristic boundaries between mesic prairie and other prairie <br />types are not well defined. <br /> <br />Dry Prairie - (MLCCS Code 61210, 61211, 61213/322 Total Acres) <br />There were 40 occurences of dry prairie documented in Elk River. Of these, 23 were <br />of unspecified subtype, 16 were Barrens Subtype, and one along Lake Orono was <br />considered sand-gravel subtype. Because the barrens subtype is the most common in <br />Elk River, its description is provided below. <br /> <br />The Barrens Subtype of Dry Prairie occurs <br />primarily on dry to dry-mesic sands on <br />outwash plains, old dune blankets, and <br />alluvial deposits along rivers and streams. <br />The low nutrient levels, low levels of organic <br />matter, and poor water-retaining capacity of <br />the deep sands presumably are the major <br />determinants of the species composition and <br />structure of Barrens Prairie. The vegetation <br />is generally sparser than in other Dry Prairie <br />subtypes (often with less than 50% cover), <br />but is fairly rich floristically. The major <br />graminoid species in the barrens subtype in <br />general include all of the common <br />graminoids for Dry Prairies, excluding side- <br />oats grama. Other graminoids characteristic <br />of the Barrens Subtype are sand dropseed (Sporobo/us cryptandrus), sand reedgrass <br />(Ca/amovilfa /ongifo/ia), hairy grama (Boute/oua hirsuta), blue grama (Boute/oua <br />gracilis), and several sedges, notably Carex toenea and Cyperus schweinitzii. <br />Among the more distinctive forbs that occur in this subtype are prairie sagewort <br />(Artemisia trigida), plantain-leaved pussytoes (Antennaria p/antaginito/ia), <br /> <br />City of Elk River, MN - Natural Resouce Inventory <br />Bonestroo Natural Resources, September 2004 <br /> <br /> <br />Barrens prairie in Section 18 of Elk River <br /> <br />36 <br />