Forest In Illinois

Southern Catalpa

Forest Communities in Illinois

• Illinois's major woodland types have been described according to forest community composition and are often named for the pre-dominant overstorey trees present

• These forest communities recur predictably under certain soil moisture conditions and in specific physiographic areas

• Most forests in Illinois can be placed in one of six communities: oak-hickory, maple-beech, elm-ash-soft maple, oak-gum-cypress, oak-pine, loblolly-shortleaf pine, white-red-jack pine

Oak Hickory Forest

Maple-Beech Forest

Elm-Ash-Soft Maple Forest

Oak-Gum-Cypress Forest

Oak-Pine Forest

Loblolly-Shortleaf Pine Forest

Red-White-Jack Pine Forest

Illinois Wetland Ecosystems

Wetland Definition

• The "Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands" was published in 1991 and was adopted in 1993 – defined wetlands as:

• “Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water..."

More on wetland definitionCritical to the definition of wetlands is that a wetland must

have at least 1 of the following 3 characteristics1. hydrophytic vegetation - plants which are adapted to grow

in waterlogged soil - if these plants are present you definitely have a wetland - at least 470 wetland and aquatic plants have been identified in Illinois

2. hydric soil - soil which is waterlogged and undrained3. wetland hydrology - the soil must be saturated with water

or covered with shallow water at some time during the growing season of each year - this is the hardest standard to apply - for some fully functional wetlands are only flooded or saturated on occasional years - but they will have hydrophytic vegetation and/or hydric soils, so they are true wetlands

Prairie Pothole Wetlands

Illinois River Basin Wetlands

Bald Cypress Swamps

Wetland Draining – Old School

Wetland Draining Today

Drainage Districts

Riparian Wetlands

Riparian Wetlands

Stream Channelization

Mississippi and Illinois River Dams

Mississippi River Dam – La Crosse, WI

Wetland Types

Palustrine Wetlands

• Palustrine wetland systems - nontidal wetlands covering areas with water up to 6.6 feet (2 m) deep

• Prairie glacial marshes in of north-central Illinois are shallow basins within small watersheds and these are typical palustrine systems - they have seasonal fluctuations in water level due to annual rainfall patterns and annual changes in water level reflecting long-term climate variations (drought cycles)

Palustrine Types

• Type I wetlands are seasonally flooded basins where soil is periodically waterlogged but drains well - so well it could be farmed most years. These wetlands occur as upland depressions or overflow bottomlands

• Dominant vegetation varies with length of flooding and may include smartweed, wild millet, fall panicum, sedges, beggar-ticks, ragweed, and barnyard grass

Palustrine Type 1 Wetland

Palustrine Types

• Type II wetlands are freshwater meadows where soil remains waterlogged within inches of the surface and standing water is present in spring and after heavy rainfall

• common species include prairie cordgrass, reed canary grass, common reed (Phragmites), manna grass, sedges, rushes, and mints

Palustrine Type II Wetland

Palustrine Types

• Type III wetlands are inland shallow freshwater marshes that usually have 6 inches of standing water, but may dry out in late summer

• common species include grasses, bulrushes, spikerushes, cattails, arrowheads (Sagittaria), giant bur reed, smartweeds, and sedges

Palustrine Type III Wetland

Palustrine Types

• Type IV wetlands are deep fresh marshes with 6 inches to 3 feet of standing water

• dominant plants include cattails, bulrushes, reeds, spikerushes, bur reeds, pondweeds, water milfoils, coontails, waterlilies (lotus) and duckweeds

Palustrine Type IV Wetland

Seepage Wetlands

• Seepage wetlands are distinctive types of palustrine wetlands that form in areas of groundwater discharge - they are sometimes called fens or hanging bogs

• Typically the soil is continuously saturated, although there may be little or no standing water

Seepage Wetland

Lacustrine Wetlands

• Lacustrine wetland systems are found in the shallow protected areas of lakes with water depth in the deepest part of the wetland basin greater than 6.6 feet (2 m)

• Wetlands in this system extend from the lakeshore to the point where at low water stage the water is 6.6 feet deep

Lacustrine Wetlands

• Lacustrine wetlands are found along protected shores of our larger lakes

• Lacustrine wetlands are often referred to as Type V wetlands or open freshwater wetlands

• Typical vegetation includes emergent species of Type IV lining the shore, with floating and submerged aquatic plants in open water

Lacustrine Wetland

Lacustrine Wetland

Riparian Wetlands

• These are riverine wetland systems which include wetland communities in river channels on sand bars, etc.; overflow bottomland palustrine wetlands; lacustrine wetlands in oxbow lakes; and backwater marshes

• These areas function together as an ecosystem where flowing water may supply moisture, sediments, and nutrients which are not available in upland systems

Riparian Vegetation

• common species include those found in palustrine and lacustrine wetlands (mainly cattails, sedges, rushes, smartweed, arrowheads, reeds, bur reeds) as well as bottomland trees and shrubs including willows, cottonwood, silver maple, green ash, box elder, hackberry, slippery elm, American elm, basswood, black walnut, poison ivy, honeysuckles, dogwoods, gooseberry, raspberry, chokecherry, elderberry, burning bush

Riparian Wetlands

Riparian Wetlands

Riparian Wetlands