Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 11/18/2004

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MISSISSIPPI WEST INWENTORY Soils Six soil tT~pes were identiSed within Mississippi West Regional Park (USDA, 1977): a'dumal land, Becket very fine sandy loam, cut and fill land, Dickman sandy '10am, a gavel pit, and Hubbard'coarse sand (Figure 4). A complete list of the forming f-actors of these soils can be found in Appendix A. The Dickman series is shown in Table 1 as DnA, which has 0-2% slopes, and DuB, which has 2-6% slopes. The Hubbard series is broken down sunilar!y; where HuA contains 0-2% slopes, HuB contains 2-6% slopes, and HuC contains 6-12% slopes. The alluvial land. the cut and fill area, and the g-ravel pit were not classified by the soil survey. Soils at the old gavel pit were primarily classified as sandy, frigSd Typic udipsamment. Soils at the cut and fill sites were identified as fidg-id Mollic udarent. Table I. Soils Soil Series Soft Mau Sv'mbo[ Soil Classification Alluvial land At' Becksr vmq/time sandy loam Ba Cut and fill land Cu Dickman .sandy loam, 0-2% slopes DrtA Dickman sandy loam, 2-45% slopes Drff3 Gravel pit Gravel pit Hubbard coarse sand, 0-2% slopes Hu.A Ffubbard coarse sand, 2-6% slopes HuB Hubbard coarse sand, 6-12% slooes HuC Source: USDA, 1977 Ent/sols Coarse-loamy, mzXed; mesic Typic hapludoll ' Sandy-skeletal, mi:xed, fi-igid Mollic udarent Sand),, mLxed, mesic Typic hapludolI Sandy, mixed, mesic Typic hapiudoll Sand),, mixed, frigid Typic udipsamment Sandy, mixed Udorthentic haploboroll Sandy, mi,xed Udorthent56 haplobomi1 Sandy, mixed Udorthentic bar~loborotl :~lluvial Land The alluvial land at M/ssissippi 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 Out-wash sands but possess layers of loamy or mucky peat from frequent floods. These floods are common m the spring and generally range fi-om I-4 feet of floodwater. This soil's available water capacity, whicl: is the mount of water a soil hoids that is available to plants, is moderate to high and the natural fort/lily 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 soils are classified as severe for camping, piCmc sites, and trails because of their inherent we"mess (Table 2). If these uses are brought about on these soils it will be coszlv ro im~lem~t the proper des~ to znsure that soils are nor eroded. Erosion could also become a 9roblem if human acriviq/on the ~slands increases. Bemuse :he soils are mostly sands, a loss of vegetation would leave the sciis susc~,°ptibie to water sros~on during a flood event.