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Orono's native vegetation is as varied as its land forms. Orono and Lake <br />Minnetonka are at the intersection of t\\^o very different Minnesota landscapes. <br />Northern Orono, and many areas along Minnetonka's shore, contain vestiges of <br />Minnesota's Big Woods with hardwood forests of Oak, Maple. Elm, and Basswood. <br />Much of these have been thinned into scattered stands, as shown on Map No. 5, but <br />major forests remain in north central and north east Orono, especially around <br />Lydiard Lake and in the Mn. DNR’s Wolsfeld Woods and Wood Rill nature areas. <br />In addition, 100 year old settlements have by now added mature stands of various <br />evergreens and other decorative trees and shrubs. <br />Western Orono, on the other hand, shows traces of Minnesota's once vast prairie. <br />Years of farming have caused loss of prairie grasses and the artificial growth of <br />windbreak woods, but open vistas still stretch westward from North Arm Bay. <br />Throughout Orono, the many drainage areas and marshlands support a bountiful <br />variety of wetland vegetation ranging from grasses, bulrushes and cattails to sumac <br />and willow. The sum effect of these varied landscapes is a seasonal variety of color <br />and an abundant habitat for wildlife including deer, fo.\. racoon and beaver, ducks, <br />grouse, pheasants and innumerable species of smaller birds and animals. <br />Orono's ground water supplies are abundant. Orono enjoys the same abundant <br />ground water resources from the Twin Cities artesian basin as does most of the <br />metropolitan area. In addition, our generally heavy' clay soil layers near the surface <br />have protected the ground waters from surface pollution. <br />Most areas of the City have had no difficulty obtaining potable water supplies drawn <br />from the Jordan aquifer with wells ranging in depth from 75 to 200 feet. Only <br />occasional wells have had to go deeper. <br />The most noticeable ground water condition in the City is also caused by the same <br />heavy clay soil layer which in many cases traps a layer of ground water very near to <br />the surface. Especially near the lakeshore or any of the w etlands, wet organic soils <br />often have perched water tables within three feet of the surface. 1 hese areas present <br />severe restrictions on development but are scattered and localized such that <br />individual properties often contain diy soil areas as well as wetter areas. <br />FIGURE <br />VEGETATION MAI* <br />CMP 3A - 11