Communities

Bioretention areas are shallow stormwater basins that utilize engineered soils and vegetation to capture and treat stormwater runoff. They are utilized to capture stormwater runoff from relatively small areas of impermeable surface (< 5 acres).

See our Bioretention plant list.

Areas typically inundated with 1 to 3 feet of water. These areas are normally rarely exposed even in dry weather. Typical plants include water lilies and various submerged species.

See our Deep Water plant list.

Occur on well-drained upland soils, often on sloping, sandy, or gravelly sites. Typical grasses include Little Bluestem, Side-Oats Grama, and Prairie Dropseed.

See our Dry Prairie plant list.

Areas on well-drained soils dominated by widely spaced or scattered trees so that they canopy is open or not complete. Usually dominated by various oaks with a mixture of woodland, prairie, and edge species in the understory. Typically maintained by fire.

See our Dry Savanna plant list.

Occur on well drained soil on ridges or slopes with south or west exposures. Soils are often thin sandy or gravely. Overstory is typically oak-hickory.

See our Dry Woods plant list.

Occurs in seasonally saturated areas in flats prairies. Typical grasses are Big Bluestem and Switchgrass.

See our Mesic Prairie plant list.

Rich woodlands often dominated by beech and sugar maple. They occur on well-drained but moisture retentive soils in flat areas, as well as, north or east facing slopes.

See our Mesic Woods plant list.

An open wetland community occurring on saturated or seasonally inundated locations. Typically dominated by various species of sedges, especially Tussock Sedge.

See our Sedge Meadow plant list.

An area typically inundated for much of the growing season, but with 1 foot of water depth. These areas are often exposed in mid to late summer as the water level recedes. Typically dominated by Bulrushes, Burreed, Arrowhead, and Rushes.

See our Shallow Water plant list.

Occurs in seasonally saturated areas in flats prairies. Typical grasses are Big Bluestem and Switchgrass.

See our Wet Mesic Prairie plant list.

Woodlands that are seasonally saturated or briefly inundated during flooding events. These woods occur typically onfloodplains or along the border of wet upland woods. Common tress include Sycamore, Black Walnut, and Green Ash.

See our Wet Mesic Woods plant list.

Wet prairie is an wetland typically dominated by graminoid species such as prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis), and sedges (Carex spp.).  The species diversity of wet prairies is lower than that of mesic prairies.  Wet prairies occur in deep swales and the substrate ranges from very deep black mineral soils (which are high in organic matter) to muck.

See our Wet Prairie plant list.

Woods that are seasonally inundated, typically in the spring. These woods may occur on floodplains or flat upland woods. Characteristic overstory trees include red and silver maples, green ash, and several species of oaks.

See our Wet Woods plant list.