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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Graminoid > SPECIES: Achnatherum thurberianum | Thurber Needlegrass
 

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DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE

SPECIES: Achnatherum thurberianum | Thurber Needlegrass

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:


Thurber needlegrass occurs in eastern parts of Washington, Oregon, and California; and across northern Nevada to southern Idaho, southwestern Montana, and northeastern Wyoming [17].

ECOSYSTEMS [36]:


FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES38 Plains grasslands

STATES:


CA ID MT NV OR UT WA WY

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [6]:


3 Southern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin

KUCHLER [50] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:


K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa Forest
K023 Juniper-pinyon woodland
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K050 Fescue-wheatgrass
K051 Wheatgrass-bluegrass
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K063 Foothills prairie
K066 Wheatgrass-needlegrass
K067 Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass

SAF COVER TYPES [33]:


210 Interior Douglas-fir
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [74]:


101 Bluebunch wheatgrass
102 Idaho fescue
103 Green fescue
105 Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
210 Bitterbrush
302 Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass
305 Idaho fescue-Richardson needlegrass
312 Rough fescue-Idaho fescue
322 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass
402 Mountain big sagebrush
403 Wyoming big sagebrush
405 Black sagebrush
406 Low sagebrush
415 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
607 Wheatgrass-needlegrass

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:


Thurber needlegrass is an important component of forested, steppe, and shrub-steppe communities of the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin regions [5,35,79,93,104]. Habitats in which Thurber needlegrass is commonly found include sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) deserts [22,25,32,41,81], and open juniper woodlands [30,48,49,54]. This grass is an indicator of climax in a number of sagebrush/grassland, pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.), and western juniper (J. occidentalis) habitat types. It may dominate the herbaceous layer [41] or exist as a subordinate in communities where the vegetation is dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), or needle-and-thread grass (Hesperostipa comata) [20]. In big sagebrush (A. tridentata)/grassland, Thurber needlegrass typically dominates the driest sites (8-10 inches (203-254 mm) precipitation); bluebunch wheatgrass dominates the intermediate sites (11-13 inches (279-330 mm) precipitation); and Idaho fescue dominates the wettest sites (14-16 inches (356-406 mm) precipitation) [96].

Species commonly associated with Thurber needlegrass include big sagebrush in Oregon [45,46,51] and Idaho [28,29,40,47]; low sagebrush (A. arbuscula) in Nevada [40,47]; Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) in Washington [52], southeast Oregon [45,55], and Nevada [28,29]; bluebunch wheatgrass in southeast Oregon [45] and Nevada [28,29]; bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) in southeast Oregon [45]; and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in Nevada [32].

References describing Thurber needlegrass as a community or habitat dominant or codominant include:

Vegetation and soils of the Rock Springs Watershed [8]
An ecological reconnaissance of the Artemisia steppe on the east central Owyhee uplands of Oregon [18]
Habitat characteristics of the Silver Lake mule deer range [21]
Vegetation-soil relationships in some Artemisia types in northern Harney and Lake Counties [24]
Plant communities and habitat types in the Lava Beds National Monument, California [31]
Sagebrush-grass habitat types of southern Idaho [41]
Old-growth juniper and pinyon woodlands [59]
Population dynamics after wildfires in sagebrush grasslands [102]


Related categories for SPECIES: Achnatherum thurberianum | Thurber Needlegrass

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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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