WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Lepus americanus | Snowshoe Hare 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Snowshoe hares occur from Newfoundland east to western Alaska; south in
the Sierra Nevada to central California; in the Rocky Mountains to
southern Utah and northern New Mexico; and in the Appalachian Mountains
to North Carolina and Tennessee [9,18,20,38].

Locations of subspecies are as follows [38]:

Lepus americanus americanus - Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta,
  Montana, and North Dakota 
L. a. cascadensis - British Columbia and Washington 
L. a. columbiensis - British Columbia, Alberta, and Washington
L. a.  dalli - Mackenzie District, British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon
  Territory 
L. a. klamathensis - Oregon and California
L. a. oregonus - Oregon
L. a. pallidus - British Columbia
L. a. phaeonotus - Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Michigan, Wisconsin, and
  Minnesota
L. a. pineus - British Columbia, Idaho, and Washington
L. a. seclusus - Wyoming
L. a. struthopus - Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward
  Island, Quebec, and Maine
L. a. tahoensis - California, western Nevada
L. a. virginianus - Ontario, Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
  Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee
L. a. washingtonii - British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods


STATES : 


    
AK
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
ID
    
KY
    
ME
    
MD
    
MA


    
MI
    
MN
    
MT
    
NV
    
NH
    
NM
    
NY
    
NC
    
ND
    
OR
 

    
PA
    
RI
	
SD
    
TN
    
UT
    
VT
    
VA
    
WA
    
WV
    
WI


    
WY






    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NF
    
NT
    
NS
    
ON
    
PE
    
PQ


    
SK
    
YK
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    





BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K001  Spruce-cedar-hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar-hemlock-Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir-hemlock forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce-fir forest
   K014  Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K020  Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K093  Great Lakes spruce-fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce-fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce-fir forest
   K099  Maple-basswood forest
   K102  Beech-maple forest
   K013  Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine-Douglas-fir forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce-tamarack
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch-red maple
    20  White pine-northern red oak-red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine-hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock-yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple-beech-yellow birch
    30  Red spruce-yellow birch
    31  Red spruce-sugar maple-beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce-balsam fir
    34  Red spruce-Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch-red spruce-balsam fir
    37  Northern white-cedar
    38  Tamarack
    51  White pine-chestnut oak
   107  White spruce
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce-paper birch
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   212  Western larch
   216  Blue spruce
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   217  Aspen
   221  Red alder
   223  Sitka spruce
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock-Sitka spruce
   226  Coastal true fir-hemlock
   227  Western redcedar-western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir-western hemlock
   231  Port-Orford-cedar
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   251  White spruce-aspen
   253  Black spruce-white spruce
   254  Black spruce-paper birch
   252  Paper birch
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   203  Riparian woodland
   409  Tall forb
   411  Aspen woodland
   421  Chokecherry-serviceberry-rose


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Snowshoe hares are primarily found in boreal forests and upper montane
forests; within these forests they favor habitats with a dense shrub
layer.  In the Pacific Northwest snowshoe hares occupy diverse habitats
including mature conifers (mostly Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii]
and variants), immature conifers, alder (Alnus spp.)/salmonberry (Rubus
spectabilis), Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)/salal (Gaultheria
shallon), and cedar (Thuja spp.) swamps [53].  In western Oregon
snowshoe hares were present in brush patches of vine maple (Acer
circinatum), willows (Salix spp.), rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.),
and other shrubs [2].

In Utah snowshoe hares used Gambel oak (Quercus gambelli) in the
northern portion of the Gambel oak range [39].

In the Southwest the southernmost populations of snowshoe hares occur in
the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico, in subalpine scrub:  narrow
bands of shrubby and prostrate conifers at and just below timberline
that is usually composed of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii),
bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata), limber pine (P. flexilis), and/or
common juniper (Juniperus communis) [12].

In Minnesota snowshoe hares use jack pine (P. banksiana) uplands, edges,
tamarack (Larix laricina) bogs, black spruce (Picea mariana) bogs, and
sedge (Carex spp.), alder, and scrub fens [62].

In New England snowshoe hares favor second-growth aspen (Populus
spp.)-birch (Betula spp.) near conifers, but other forest types occupied
by snowshoe hares include aspens, paper birch (B. papyrifera), northern
hardwoods, red maple (A. rubrum), balsam fir (Abies balsamea), red
spruce (Picea rubens)-balsam fir, eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis),
northern red oak (Quercus rubra), oak (Quercus spp.)-pine (Pinus spp.),
eastern white pine (P. strobus)-northern red oak-red maple, and eastern
white pine.  Snowshoe hares also use shrub swamps dominated by
buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), alders, and silky dogwood
(Cornus ammomum) [20,21].  Further details on plant communities used by
snowshoe hares in different regions are in Bittner and Rongstad [9].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Lepus americanus | Snowshoe Hare