Maine State Soil
Chesuncook Soil Series
Adopted on April 16, 1999.
Chesuncook soil is a soil type that was first identified in Maine and is one of the most widely distributed soil types in Maine. On April 16, 1999, Governor Angus S. King, Jr., signed Legislative Document 592 into law, making Chesuncook Maine's Official State Soil. The soil series name comes from the Native American word for converging bodies of water. A lake written about in Henry David Thoreau's "The Maine Woods" also shares the name.Maine State Soil: Chesuncook Soil Series
At least 14 states have already established a state soil by an act of their state legislature. A total of 47 states have selected their state soil and are in the act of establishing or already have established the state soil by acts of their state legislatures. We could turn the first question around and ask how Maine, known for its natural resource wealth, could have neglected establishing a suitable soil as a state symbol when so much of our natural resource base depends on the soil!
The Chesuncook soil series is a classic Spodosol that typifies the northern temperate and cool forested regions of Maine. It consists of very deep, moderately well drained soils on till plains, hills, ridges, and mountains.
Chesuncook soils produce wood fiber used in paper production, saw logs for lumber, and timber for wood products, such as furniture. These soils
have a high woodland productivity rating. The most common tree species are red spruce, balsam fir, yellow birch, American beech, sugar maple, white
ash, and red maple.
These soils are considered prime farmland where slopes are less than 8 percent and where surface stones have been removed. Small areas are used for
potatoes, oats, barley, hayland, pasture, or low-density urban development. It is estimated that Chesuncook soils occur on more than 150,000 acres
in Maine. The soils are named after Chesuncook Lake, in northern Maine.
Chesuncook Soil Profile
Surface layer: black, friable highly decomposed plant material
Subsurface layer: pinkish gray, very friable silt loam
Subsoil - upper: dark reddish brown, very friable silt loam
Subsoil - upper middle: reddish brown, very friable silt loam
Subsoil - lower middle: dark yellowish brown, very friable silt loam
Subsoil - lower: light olive brown, mottled, friable gravelly loam
Substratum: light olive brown, mottled, very firm gravelly loam
Maine Law
The law designating the Chesuncook soil series as the official Maine state soil is found in then Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 9, Subchapter 1, Section 222.
Title 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
Chapter 9: SEAL, MOTTO, EMBLEMS AND FLAGS
Subchapter 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
§222. State soil
The Chesuncook soil series, a coarse-loamy, mixed, frigid, Typic Haplorthod, is the official state soil. [1999, c. 70, §1 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
1999, c. 70, §1 (NEW).
