Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Soils of the Prince George- McLeod Lake Area . .¢ . .Q . MOE Technical Report 29 Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries MOE Technical Report 29 SOILS OF THE PRINCE GEORGE- McLEOD LAKE AREA Report N o. 23 British Columbia Soif Survey A .B .Dawson, P .Ag . MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES SOILS BRANCH Victoria, B.C . January, 1989 Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Dawson, A. B . (Alan Bruce), .1927- Soils of the Prince George-McLeod Lake area (MOE technical report, ISSN 0840-9730 ; 29) (British Columbia soil survey, ISSN 0375-5886 ; report no . 23) Co-published by,the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries . Bibliography : p . ISBN 0-7726-o8b6-7 l . Soils - British Columbia - Prince George Region . 2 . Soils - British Columbia - McLeod Lake Region . I . British Columbia . Ministry of Environment . II . British Columbia . Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries . III . Title . IV . Series . V . Series : British Columbia soil survey ; report no . 23 . S599 .1 .B7D38 1988 631 .4'7'7112 C88-092o87-4 ©Copyright 1989 . B .C . Ministry of Environment . First Printing 1989 . TABLE OF CONTENTS Paqe TABLE OF CONTENTS . i LIST OF FIGURES . .. v LIST OF TABLES . .. v LIST OF PLATES . vi INTRODUCTION . .. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . viii HOW TO USE THE SOIL MAPS AND REPORT . .. ix PART I GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA . Location and Extent . 1 History and Development . 2 Population and Facilities . 2 Services and Transporation . 2 General Economy . 2 Physical Features . 2 Physiography and Relief . 2 Nechako Plateau . 4 Fraser Plateau . 4 McGregor Plateau . 4 Fraser Basin . 4 Nechako Plain . .. 5 Drainage . .. .1 . 5 Bedrock Geology . 5 Landforms and Soil Parent Materials . .. 8 Basal Till Deposits . 8 Ablation Till Deposits . 6 Shallow Glacial Till and/or Colluvial Deposits over Bedrock . 10 Glaciofluvial Deposits . 10 Glaciolacustrine Deposits . 11 Fluvial Deposits . 11 Organic Deposits . 12 Environmental Features . 12 Climate . 12 Vegetation . 12 Subboreal Region (SB) . 13 Interior Wetbelt Region (IWB) . .. 17 P aqe Soil Development and Classification . 18 Luvlsollc Order . ., . 21 Podzollc Order . , . ., ., . ., . ., . ., . 22 Brunisolic Order . 23 Regosolic Order . 25 Gleysolic Order . 25 Organic Order . 26 PART II DESCRIPTION OF THE SOIL ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT . 28 Mapping Methodology . 28 Development of the Soil Associations . 28 Soil Association Descriptions . 30 Alix Association (AX) . 32 Averil Association (AL) . 35 Barrett Association (BA) . 37 Bear Lake Association (BE) . 40 Bearpaw Ridge Association (BR) . .. . 42 Bednesti Association (B) . 44 Berman Association (BN) . ..