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Bacon Terraces

↑About the Bacon Terraces

The Bacon Terraces are a series of relatively flat terraces in southeastern Georgia, with a mix of cropland, pine plantations, and forested bottomlands.

This region is quite flat overall, and the terrain is gently dissected in a dendritic pattern by the upper Satilla River and its tributaries. Much of the area has long, flat-to-gently-sloping ridges running parallel to the larger streams, and there are subtle east-facing scarps. The area is underlain mostly by sand and gravel, with small amounts of clay near the larger streams. Soils tend to be well-drained but nutrient-poor; their texture combined with this region's mild climate makes this area attractive for agriculture.

This region was originally covered mostly in southern mixed forest except on the floodplains of streams and rivers, which supported southern floodplain forest.

Presently this region has a mix of land use; there is significant cropland on the well-drained uplands, producing corn, cotton, soybeans, tobacco, and blueberries. There are also some pine plantations here. Pines are able to be grown on the more poorly-drained lower areas between streams, too wet for cropland. The relatively narrow floodplains are mostly still covered in bottomland forest. There are also small amounts of wild forest on the uplands, mostly highly fragmented. Most of this area is sparsely populated; the largest city is Waycross, and the region also contains the towns of Alma and Baxley, and a number of smaller towns. There is little public or protected land here.

This region is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Southern Loam Plains, which is slightly hillier and has greater diversity both of topography and soils. To the south this region is bordered by the Okefenokee Plains, and to the east, it is bordered by the lower, flatter, and more forested Sea Island Flatwoods.

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↑References

1. Griffith, G.E., Omernik, J.M., Comstock, J.A., Lawrence, S., Martin, G., Goddard, A., Hulcher, V.J., and Foster, T. "Ecoregions of Alabama and Georgia (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs)", U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (2001) Web.