Houlton Farm Planning Committee Meeting 2016-02-02

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TOPOGRAPHY AND SOILS TOPOGRAPHY The site has a generally flat topography with an overall slope to the south and southeast, or towards the direction of the confluence of the Elk and Mississippi Rivers. On a smaller scale, the land slopes slightly toward the rivers as it approaches the Elk toward the north and east and the Mississippi to the south. Some varied topography is present on the northwest side of the property, owing in part to the neighboring housing development and to the old gravel pit that once operated on the property. Here, the land s steeply upward from a slight depression west of the field edge up to the ho ; t i slope ranges from 6 to 35%, while the majority of the site is between 0 and6°/ tion of the site ranges from a low of 854 ft above sea level to a high of 872 ft. Soils vary in character across the site and are heavily of the soils on the site are loamy soils, meaning th amounts of sand and silt, with lesser amounts of clay. rich and are ideal for agriculture. Along the river char loam, meaning it contains a large percent ine s; areas experience rare to occasional floodi the north and northwest side of the site, th oils a and are more typical of loamy coarse sand. c the soils are wetter and more drained, flood summary of soils and their charact tics visualized in Figure S. Soil formation is the climate, organism&& tures. Most Rkoximately equal are nutrient and moisture )il is generally fine sandy Cind ythe river flow. These y deposit new soil. On influenced by the river, the eastern end of the site, .inf occurs more frequently. A is listed in Table 1, and can be erf five soil -forming factors: parent material, ition or slope, and time (Foth,1990). Taken armine the dominant floral and faunal communities that helpe rm the s rodale6paston, Etter, Terril, Wadena, and Waukegan are all mallisol ich are Arai oils, generally deep, dark in color, and rich in cations, and thus would ha dominat by graminoid vegetation (prairie or savanna) prior to Europeanse t. All a soils of the project area are well drained or excessively well drained. None o considered hydric soils, which indicates that they are not wet enough for long en to develop organic matter accumulations and anaerobic conditions. Due to the fine, san nature of some of the soils, the erosion potential is mostly medium; none of the soil types present have a high erosion potential, though all types are susceptible to some erosion by wind, water, or both. Friends of the Mississippi W. H. Houlton Conservation Area NRMP 17