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Worcester/Monadnock Plateau

Ecoregion in Appalachian Mountains in MA, VT, NH

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The Worcester/Monadnock Plateau covers parts of north-central Massachusetts and south-central New Hampshire. Similar to the western highlands of New England, these central highlands are a continuum where boundary divisions, such as with the Lower Worcester Plateau (59b) or the Sunapee Uplands (58q), are not distinct breaks. In terms of elevation, relief, climate, soils, and vegetation, however, the upland area of north-central Massachusetts and south-central New Hampshire is more typical of the rugged, colder, more mountainous nature of the Northeastern Highlands ecoregion (58) than of Ecoregion 59 to the south and east. The southern boundary in Massachusetts, based in part on elevation, generally encloses areas with elevations greater than 1000 feet and areas of frigid soils. Coarse-loamy Spodosols and Inceptisols are common. Elevations for the ecoregion range mostly from 500 feet to 1400 feet, with some higher peaks over 2000 feet. The rock types are mainly gneiss, schist, and granite. Monadnocks, residual hills or mountains usually composed of more resistant rocks, occur in many parts of the region. The general vegetation types include transition hardwoods (maple-beech-birch, oak-hickory) and northern hardwoods (maple-beech-birch). Forested wetlands are common and surface waters tend to be acidic.

— EPA

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