Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 04/10/1997

Home

MISSISSIPPI WEST INVENTORY Soils Six soil types were identified within Mississippi West Regional Park (USDA, 1977): alluvial land, Becker very fine sandy loam, cut and fill land, Dickman sandy loam, a gravel pit, and Hubbard coarse sand (Figure 4). A complete list of the forming factors of these softs can be found in Appendix A. The Dickman series is shown in Table 1 as DnA, which has 0-2% slopes, and DaB, which has 2-6% slopes. The Hubbard series is broken down similarly; where HuA contains 0-2% slopes, HuB contains 2-6% slopes, and HuC contains 6-12% slopes. The alluvial land, the cut and fall area, and the gravel pit were not classified by the soft survey. Softs at the old gravel pit were primarily classified as sandy, frigid Typic udipsamment. Softs at the cut and fill sites were identified as frigid MoIlic udarent. Table 1. Soils Soil Series Soil Map Symbol Soil Classification Alluvial land Af Becket very fine sandy loam Ba Cut and fill land Cu Dichnan sandy loam, 0-2% slopes DnA Dickman sandy loam, 2-4% slopes DaB Gravel pit Gravel pit Hubbard coarse sand, 0-2% slopes HuA · Hubbard coarse sand, 2-6% slopes HuB Hubbard coarse sand, 6-12% slopes HuC Source: USDA, 1977 Alluvial Land Entisols Come-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic hapludoll Saady-skeleta/, mixed, frigid Mollic udarent Sand),, mixed, mesic Typic hapludoLl Sandy, mixed, mesic Typic hapludoll Sandy, mixed, frigid Typic udipsammcnt Sandy, mixed Udorthentic haploboroll Sandy, mixed Udorthentic haploboroll Sand,v, mixed Udorthentic haploboroll The alluvial land at Mississippi West Regional Park is all contained on Foster's and Cloquet Islands. These soils are on nearly level terrain and poorly drained. These soils formed in outwash sands but possess layers of loamy or mucky peat from frequent floods. These floods are common in the spring and generally range from I-4 feet of floodwater. This soil's available water capacity, which is the amount of water a soil holds that is available to plants, is moderate to high and the natural fertility is medium. These islands are poorly suited to most uses other than the forest floodplain vegetation that naturally occurs there because of the frequency of flooding. Alluvial softs are classified as severe for camping, picnic sites, and trails because of their inherent wemess (Table 2). If these uses are brought about on these soils it will be costly to implement the proper design to ensure that softs are not eroded. Erosion could also become a problem if human activity on the islands increases. Because the softs are mostly sands, a loss of vegetation would leave the soils susceptible to water erosion during a flood event.