Pinegrass is found from Manitoba west through British Columbia and south through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and into California
[69,70,71,82,153,154]. The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides a map
of pinegrass' distribution in the United States (http://plants.usda.gov/plants/cgi_bin/topics.cgi).
205 Mountain hemlock
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
208 Whitebark pine
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
215 Western white pine
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
224 Western hemlock
226 Coastal true fir-hemlock
227 Western redcedar-western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
Throughout its range, pinegrass is an important and often dominant understory species in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
[73,97,113,133], subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)-Engelmann spruce (Picea
engelmannii)
[73,93,113,130], grand fir (A. grandis) [51,73,131], ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
[30,60,73,156], lodgepole pine (P. contorta) [29,113,130], and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests
[3,104,157].
Pinegrass is the most abundant grass in forested areas of interior southern British Columbia, where it is a dominant understory species in the Douglas-fir and sub-boreal pine-spruce zones. It is common in drier zones of the sub-boreal spruce and montane spruce zones as well. Pinegrass also occurs in drier portions of the interior western redcedar-western hemlock (Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla) and subalpine fir-Engelmann zones and at lower elevations and in moist areas of the ponderosa pine and bunchgrass zones
[30].
Douglas-fir/pinegrass habitat types are widespread and are recognized from southern British Columbia
southeast through Montana and Wyoming and south to the eastern foothills of the Cascade Range and the Wallowa
and Blue Mountains of Oregon [36,97,113,130,133,146,155]. According to Mauk and Henderson [93], the southern extent
of this habitat type probably occurs in northern Utah's Uinta range. Douglas-fir/pinegrass appears to be the most widely distributed habitat type in the Douglas-fir series within the Northern Rockies
[51,113,133,155]. A publication describing the type and outlining succession and management in the
Douglas-fir/pinegrass habitat type in central Idaho is available [133].
Some classifications identifying plant communities in which pinegrass is described as a dominant understory species follow:
Classification of the forest vegetation of Wyoming [2]
Forest vegetation of the Medicine Bow National Forest in southeastern Wyoming: a habitat type classification [3]
Vegetation of two drainages in Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon [29]
Forest habitat types of northern Idaho: a second approximation [31]
Forest vegetation of eastern Washington and northern Idaho [37]
Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington [51]
Plant communities of the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington [60]
Coniferous forest habitat types of northern Utah [93]
Plant communities of the Similkameen Valley, British Columbia [97]
Aspen community types of the Intermountain Region [104]
Forest habitat types of Montana [113]
A preliminary description of plant communities found on the Sawtooth, White Cloud, Boulder, and Pioneer Mountains [118]
Forest habitat types of eastern Idaho-western Wyoming [130]
The Douglas-fir/pinegrass habitat type in central Idaho: succession and management [133]
Forested plant associations of the Okanogan National Forest [155]
Some common plant associates of pinegrass in Douglas-fir habitats include ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus), oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), white spirea (Spiraea betulifolia), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), mountain snowberry (S. oreophilus), Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana), Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites), Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens), heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia), big-leaved sandwort (Arenaria macrophylla), western yarrow (Achillea millefolium), mountain sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza chilensis), tailcup lupine (Lupinus caudatus), wood strawberry (Fragaria vesca), and elk sedge (Carex geyeri)
[2,26,54,73].
Common plant associates of pinegrass in subalpine fir-Engelmann spruce habitats include menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea), grouse whortleberry (Vaccinium scoparium), other huckleberry species (Vaccinium spp.), bearberry, beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), pachistima, heartleaf arnica, queencup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), twisted stalk (Streptopus amplexifolium), and elk sedge
[73,93].
Some common plant associates of pinegrass in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) habitats include russet buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), mountain snowberry, rose (Rosa spp.), bearberry, Oregon-grape, shrubby cinquefoil (Dasiphora floribunda), western yarrow, strawberry (Fragaria spp.), showy aster (Aster conspicuus), northern bedstraw (Galium boreale), Richardson's geranium (Geranium richardsonii), sticky geranium (G. viscosissimum), Fendler meadowrue (Thalictrum fendleri), lupine (Lupinus spp.), and elk sedge
[2,78,104,157].
Related categories for
SPECIES: Calamagrostis rubescens
| Pinegrass
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Information
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System
