Ecological Classification System Levels

LAND TYPE PHASES
Land Type Phases are subdivisions of Land Types and are the smallest level identified by Minnesota's ECS.  Land Type Phase (LTP) units are being mapped on most National Forests and in some State Parks in Minnesota.  On the Chippewa National Forest, LTP units are defined using characteristics such as: 
 

The Land Type Phase h (Figure 30), unit for example, in the Fire Intolerant Maple-Basswood Forest LT unit, has characteristics that include fine sandy loam soil and a "perched water table" (i.e.,  a layer of soil that somewhat inhibits water infiltration and provides tree roots a reliable source of water).

                                         Figure 30


Sugar maple and basswood forests dominate this LTP unit, with sub-communities such as: white pine forest, northern hardwood-conifer forest, or northern hardwood forest.  Common understory vegetative species include: bluebead lily, starflower, sweet-scented bedstraw, large-flowered bellwort, Solomon's seal, rattlesnake fern, and lady-fern.  Grasses and sedges occur in low abundance in the Land Type Phase h unit. The Land Type Phase or Habitat Type level is appropriate for field management projects. 

IDENTIFICATION OF HABITAT TYPE THROUGH VEGETATIVE KEYS 

The Minnesota DNR is not currently developing Land Type Phases as defined by the National Hierarchy of Ecological Units and the Chippewa National Forest.  Instead, a  "habitat type" approach  that relies more heavily upon vegetation and less on other features is being developed.  This approach depends on the development of vegetative keys for classification and does not presently include the development of maps.  A habitat type includes all sites, or areas, capable of producing similar climax plant communities.  Because the climax community is the long-term result of plant succession and plant community development, it reflects a meaningful integration of those environmental factors that affect vegetation.  This approach has been successfully developed by the Wisconsin DNR, Michigan DNR, and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.  It is also concurrently being developed in Minnesota by Boise Cascade Corporation and Blandin Paper Company.   The following publications provide  more information on this topic: 

 A Guide to Forest Communities and Habitat Types of Central and Southern Wisconsin, John Kotar and Timothy Burger, the Department of Forestry, University of Wisconsin- Madison 1996. 

Approaches to Ecologically Based Forest Management on Private Lands, John Kotar, University of Minnesota Extension Service  - Publication, undated. 

Ecological Land Classification Handbook for the Northern Minnesota Drift & Lake Plains and the Chippewa National Forest - Draft, IDENTIFICATION, DESCRIPTION, AND ECOLOGY OF FORESTED, NATIVE PLANT COMMUNITIES, John C. Almendinger and Dan S. Hanson, Ecological Land Classification Program, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, June 1998.
 
 

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