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Lower Berkshire Hills

Ecoregion in Appalachian Mountains in CT, MA

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Although it is difficult to find significant breaks in the highland continuum in western New England, there are differences between the highlands of Vermont and those of southern Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. The Lower Berkshire Hills ecoregion differs from the Green Mountains/Berkshire Highlands (58c) to the north mainly in terms of lower elevation, milder climate, and vegetation types that lack spruce-fir and include more transition hardwoods (maple-beech-birch, oak-hickory). The southern boundary of the ecoregion in Connecticut is not distinct, occurring just north of Torrington, where pines, northern hardwoods, and elevations increase. The bedrock and surficial geology, soil associations, and land uses of Ecoregion 58d have some similarities to the more northern Berkshire Highlands (58c) of Massachussetts. Coarse-loamy, frigid Inceptisols and Spodosols are typical. Lakes and ponds are relatively abundant in this ecoregion. The lake density is similar to that of the Green Mountains/Berkshire Highlands (58c), and these two ecoregions have a greater density and number of lakes than the nearby Berkshire Transition (58e), Vermont Piedmont (58f), or Taconic Mountains (58a).

— EPA

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