WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Urocyon cinereoargenteus | Gray Fox 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
The range of gray fox extends from extreme southern Canada to northern
Venezuela and Columbia, excluding portions of the northern Rocky
Mountain region, the northern Great Plains, and eastern Central America
[16].  Gray fox range has expanded in the last 50 years to areas
formerly unoccupied and areas where gray fox had been extirpated
including New England, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Ontario, Manitoba,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Utah [9].

Ranges of subspecies follow [16].

U. c. borealis occurs in New England and southern Ontario.

U. c. californicus occurs from southwestern California to northern Baja
California.

U. c. cinereoargenteus occurs from southern Massachusetts and
Connecticut west to Lake Michigan and Illinois; south to central South
Carolina; and west to the Mississippi River.

U. c. floridanus occurs from southern South Carolina south to Florida
and west to eastern Texas; it occurs along the Gulf Coast excluding
Louisiana.

U. c. ocythous occurs in Wisconsin and extreme western Illinois; from
Missouri and Arkansas west to Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota,
North Dakota, and extreme southern Manitoba and Quebec.

U. c. scottii occurs from western Texas north through northern Colorado
and Utah to the southern half of Nevada; and from California east of the
Sierra Nevada southeast in Mexico to Chihuahua.

U. c. townsendi occurs in northern California and western Oregon.


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak-pine
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands


STATES : 


    
AL
    
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA
    
IL


    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
ME
    
MD
    
MA
    
MI
    
MN


    
MS
    
MO
    
NE
    
NV
    
NH
    
NJ
    
NM
    
NY
    
NC
    
ND


    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
RI
    
SC
    
SD
    
TN
    
TX
    
UT


    
VT
    
VA
    
WV
    
WI
    
WY






    
MB
    
ON
    
PQ






    
MEXICO




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   The gray fox occurs in nearly every Kuchler plant association.


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   The gray fox occurs in nearly every SAF cover type.


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   The gray fox occurs in most SRM cover types.


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Gray foxes occur in a wide variety of forest types; they prefer
woodlands and woodland-brush ecotones over open habitat.  They commonly
occur in eastern and southwestern deciduous forests, but are also found
in mixed and coniferous forests of the northeastern and western states [36].

Gray foxes are ecologically important members of the oak (Quercus
spp.)-hickory (Carya spp.) ecosystem.  In the Missouri Ozarks mature
oak-hickory stands were the most frequently used (of six habitat types)
by gray foxes, both at night and during the day.  Old fields were least
used [18].  In North Carolina gray fox habitats include evergreen redbay
(Persea borbonia) forests, deciduous forests, and streamhead forests.
Gray foxes were common in the most densely wooded habitats, including
pocosins.  They are often seen running along sandy rims and ridges
between bay and streamhead forests [5].  In central Louisiana gray foxes
occur in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)-slash pine (P. elliottii)
stands [25].  Gray foxes are common in southwestern Wisconsin
oak-hickory forests dominated by white oak (Q. alba), northern red oak
(Q. rubra), black oak (Q. velutina), and shagbark hickory (C. ovata)
with lesser amounts of white ash (Fraxinus americana), green ash (F.
pennsylvanica), maples (Acer spp.), and basswood (Tilia americana) [33].

In Zion National Park, Utah, gray foxes occur in blackbrush (Coleogyne
ramosissima), shrub-grassland dominated by fourwing saltbush (Atriplex
canescens), and pinyon (Pinus spp.)-juniper (Juniperus spp.) [35].  In
Texas gray foxes are found in post oak (Q. stellata) woodlands,
pinyon-juniper woodlands, and wooded sections of shortgrass prairie.  In
western states gray foxes are found in brushy habitat, woods, and
chaparral [36].  In Arizona gray foxes are relatively rare; they are
typically found in pine (Pinus spp.)-Gambel oak (Q. gambelii) woodlands
at 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500-1,800 m) elevation.  They also occur in
pine-fir (Abies spp.), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa), chaparral, and
desert grassland habitats [6,31].  In California gray foxes are most
common in mature chaparral at elevations of 1,000 to 3,000 feet (300-900
m) and also occur in open chaparral, riparian areas, and other plant
communities [29].  In riparian zones they have been found in communities
dominated by Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii)-northern California
black walnut (Juglans californica var. hindsii), and by large willow
(Salix laevigata) [17].  In northwestern California gray foxes were
present in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests [39].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Urocyon cinereoargenteus | Gray Fox