Land clearing and forestry mulching in Southwest Arkansas

Pine uplands, prairie, and river bottoms in Southwest Arkansas

Thirty-four of the 36 towns here sit in the South Central Plains, the coastal plain on the EPA's ecoregion map. Gillham and Umpire sit in the Ouachita Mountains, on the low shale ridges of the Athens Plateau.

The EPA's finer Level IV map splits the plains here into six kinds of ground, from wet pine flatwoods to dark prairie soil. Each one changes what a clearing crew runs into.

1. Cretaceous Dissected Uplands

   South Central Plains, Level IV 35d, 10 towns

   Around Hope, Nashville, and Dierks, the ground runs nearly level to hilly over sandy, clayey, or gravelly deposits that are often limy. Creeks cut this ground more densely than anywhere else in the South Central Plains. The native cover was mostly oak, hickory, and pine, and today it's a mix of woods and pasture.

   Towns hereBlevins, Dierks, Emmet, Hope, Horatio, Lockesburg, McCaskill, Mineral Springs, Nashville, and Washington

2. Pleistocene Fluvial Terraces

   South Central Plains, Level IV 35c, 8 towns

   Across Little River County and around Lewisville and Bradley, old river terraces lie nearly level, poorly drained, and periodically wet. Pine flatwoods of loblolly pine and oaks cover them. The lowest terrace is flat and clayey, with wide hardwood wetlands.

   Towns hereAlleene, Ashdown, Bradley, Foreman, Lewisville, Ogden, Wilton, and Winthrop

3. Tertiary Uplands

   South Central Plains, Level IV 35a, 8 towns

   Texarkana, Fouke, Stamps, and Rosston sit on rolling uplands of loose sand, silt, and gravel. Loblolly and shortleaf pine grow on the loamy, well-drained soil, and commercial pine plantations now stand where oak, hickory, and pine forest once grew.

   Towns hereBluff City, Buckner, Doddridge, Fouke, Rosston, Stamps, Texarkana, and Willisville

4. Blackland Prairie

   South Central Plains, Level IV 35h, 5 towns

   Around Prescott, Ozan, and Saratoga, the land is level to rolling, with dark soils formed over marl, chalk, and limestone. In the late 1700s it was a mix of woodland, savanna, and prairie. Today it's mostly hay and pasture ground, with more pasture than anywhere else in Arkansas's South Central Plains.

   Towns hereBen Lomond, Columbus, Ozan, Prescott, and Saratoga

5. Red River Bottomlands and floodplains

   South Central Plains, Level IV 35g and 35b, 3 towns

   Fulton and Garland City sit in the Red River Bottomlands: nearly flat river ground with oxbow lakes, backswamps, and natural levees, widely cleared and drained for farming. De Queen sits on floodplains and low terraces, where large parts flood often and forested wetlands are typical.

   Towns hereDe Queen, Fulton, and Garland City

6. Ouachita Mountains, Athens Plateau

   Level III ecoregion 36, Level IV 36a, 2 towns

   Gillham and Umpire sit on low ridges and hills underlain mostly by shale, firmer rock than the loose deposits of the plains. Pine plantations are widespread here, with pasture and hay ground in between.

   Towns hereGillham and Umpire

What the ground changes on your job