Northern Lakes and Forests (ecoregion)

Northern Lakes and Forests
Map of ecoregions of the Upper Midwest
Map of ecoregions of the Upper Midwest, with Northern Lakes and Forests shown as number 50
Ecology
RealmNearctic
Geography
CountryUnited States
States

The Northern Lakes and Forests are an ecoregion in northern Minnesota,[1] northern Wisconsin,[2] and northern Michigan[3] in the United States. It is a Level III ecoregion in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) classification system, where it is designated as ecoregion number 50. The ecoregion is characterized by coniferous and northern hardwoods forests, morainal hills, large lake basins, and broad areas of sandy outwash plains, with numerous lakes and wetlands. The Northern Lakes and Forests are less well-suited to agriculture than ecoregions to the south, owing to shorter growing seasons, lower temperatures, and soils formed mainly from nutrient-poor sandy and loamy glacial drift material.[4][5]

  1. ^ "Minnesota level III and IV ecoregions" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  2. ^ "Level III and IV ecoregions of Wisconsin" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  3. ^ "Level III and IV ecoregions of Michigan" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. June 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  4. ^ "Michigan level III and IV ecoregion descriptions/mapping issues" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2007-12-27. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  5. ^ Wilson, Tamara; L. Ryan, Christy (2015-12-11). Northern Lakes and Forests Ecoregion. pp. 33–42.