Roots of white ash have a better configuration than roots of sugar maple for anchoring shallow colluvium against landsliding on hillslopes along the Ohio River and its tributaries in southwestern Ohio. The landslides are in a shallow layer of colluvium, about one meter thick, overlying shale and limestone bedrock. The sliding hillsides range in slope angle from 16 to 36 degrees and the roots which penetrate shear surfaces are anchored in the weathered bedrock and help to hold landmasses in place. The hillsides are covered by a mesophytic forest, locally known as a ravine community, dominated by white ash, sugar maple and sweet buckeye. Sugar maple is the most common species on the landslides; its roots do not penetrate the soil as deeply as the roots of the white ash.