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Champlain Lowlands

Ecoregion in VT, NY

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The Champlain Lowlands ecoregion is the northernmost expression of the Great Valley, a limestone depression that extends along the entire length of the Appalachian Mountains. The Champlain Lowlands separate the Adirondack Mountains to the west from the Green Mountains (58c) to the east. The region’s low elevation and the lake itself moderate the climate. During the Pleistocene, the basin contained Glacial Lake Vermont, and, at its maximum depth, glacial melt water lapped at beach lines over 600 feet above sea level. Glacial melt water also deposited sand, silt, and clay sediments into the lake that cover the valley floor today. The moderate climate and the lake bed soils make the Champlain Lowlands the prime agricultural region in Vermont. Mesic Inceptisols and Alfisols are typical. The lake effect keeps temperatures warmer in the fall and cooler in the spring, and the growing season is about 150 days, four to six weeks longer than in the Green Mountains (58c). The glacial deposits create distinctive plant communities, such as the pine/oak heath sandplain forest, the valley clayplain forest, and the white pine/red oak/black oak forest, that are endangered due to farmland clearing and urban and recreational development. The vegetation communities have some stronger alliances to the St. Lawrence valley and the Great Lakes lowlands than to the hilly New England regions to the east. Some unique swamp, marsh, and other wetland communities also occur here. Lake Champlain provides drinking water to communities inside and outside of the Champlain basin. Since 1823, a canal has transferred Lake Champlain water south into New York’s Hudson River basin. Most of Lake Champlain’s water flows north through the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence River.

— EPA

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