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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 definition
Critical to the definition of wetlands is that a wetland must
have at least 1 of the following 3 characteristics
1. 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 undrained
3. 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