Northern Lakes and Forests (ecoregion)

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]

Northern Lakes and Forests
Map of ecoregions of the Upper Midwest, with Northern Lakes and Forests shown as number 50
Ecology
Realm	Nearctic
Geography
Country	United States
States	Michigan Minnesota Wisconsin

Level IV ecoregions

Following is a list of smaller Level IV ecoregions within the Northern Lakes and Forests ecoregion, as defined by the EPA.^[1][2][3]

Number	Ecoregion name	Michigan	Minnesota	Wisconsin
50a	Lake Superior Clay Plain	✔	✔	✔
50b	Minnesota/Wisconsin Upland Till Plain		✔	✔
50c	St. Croix Pine Barrens			✔
50d	Superior Mineral Ranges/ Ontonagon Lobe Moraines and Gogebic Iron Range	✔		✔
50e	Chequamegon Moraine and Outwash Plain			✔
50f	Blue Hills			✔
50g	Chippewa Lobe Rocky Ground Moraines			✔
50h	Perkinstown End Moraine			✔
50i	Northern Wisconsin Highlands Lakes Country	✔		✔
50j	Brule and Paint River Drumlins	✔		✔
50k	Wisconsin/Michigan Pine and Oak Barrens	✔		✔
50l	Menominee Drumlins and Ground Moraine	✔		✔
50m	Mesabi Range		✔
50n	Boundary Lakes and Hills		✔
50o	Glacial Lakes Upham and Aitkin		✔
50p	Toimi Drumlins		✔
50q	Itasca and St. Louis Moraines		✔
50r	Chippewa Plains		✔
50s	Nashwauk/Marcell Moraines and Uplands		✔
50t	North Shore Highlands		✔
50u	Keweenaw-Baraga Moraines	✔
50v	Winegar Dead Ice Moraine	✔
50w	Michigamme Highland	✔
50x	Grand Marais Lakeshore	✔
50y	Seney-Tahquamenon Sand Plain	✔
50z	Rudyard Clay Plain	✔
50aa	Menominee-Drummond Lakeshore	✔
50ab	Cheboygan Lake Plain	✔
50ac	Onaway Moraines	✔
50ad	Vanderbilt Moraines	✔
50ae	Mio Plateau	✔
50af	Cadillac Hummocky Moraines	✔
50ag	Newaygo Barrens	✔
50ah	Tawas Lake Plain	✔

See also

• List of ecoregions in the United States (EPA)