Regional Landscape Ecosystems of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
SUB-SUBSECTION VIII.3.2. Gwinn
DISCUSSION: This small sub-subsection consists primarily of a poorly drained, broad outwash plain, but also includes areas of droughty outwash.
ELEVATION: 1,030 to 1,240 feet (314 to 378 m).
AREA: 277 square miles (719 sq km).
STATES: Michigan.
CLIMATE: See subsection.
BEDROCK GEOLOGY: See subsection.
LANDFORM: A large outwash plain. In the north, the outwash is locally quite thin over bedrock. Near Gwinn, there are many kettle lakes and depressions, some containing ponds and bog vegetation. Farther to the south, the outwash slopes gradually to the southeast.
LAKES AND STREAMS: No lakes on the poorly drained outwash; several small kettle lakes on the pitted outwash near Gwinn. The Escanaba River flows through the wetland.
SOILS: The southern part of the sub-subsection has thick, acidic, organic soils over sand or sandy loam. The northern part has excessively drained sand soils. Bedrock is exposed at the margins of the outwash plain in the west.
PRESETTLEMENT VEGETATION: The extensive conifer swamps contained abundant northern white-cedar at the upland margins, with increased amounts of black spruce and tamarack dominant in the wetland interior. Swamp hardwoods included balsam poplar, red maple, paper birch, and black ash.
The excessively drained outwash supported open stands of jack pine. White pine and red pine, along with some northern hardwoods, were located on steeply sloping channels on the outwash. White pine and hemlock stands were locally dominant on the margins of kettle lakes.
NATURAL DISTURBANCE: Windthrow and fire, as mentioned by GLO surveyors.
PRESENT VEGETATION AND LAND USE: The wetlands remain dominated by conifer swamp. Jack pine remains the dominant vegetation on the droughty outwash. White pine and hemlock remain locally among the kettle lakes, but many of these stands were logged and replaced by trembling aspen and paper birch.
RARE PLANT COMMUNITIES: None identified to date.
RARE PLANTS: None identified to date; little biological survey done.
RARE ANIMALS: None identified to date; little biological survey done.
NATURAL AREAS: None to date.
PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS: State Forests: Lake Superior, Escanaba River.
CONSERVATION CONCERNS:
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