• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Timber oatgrass is widely distributed in North America from Alaska eastward to Newfoundland and south to northern California, Arizona, and New Mexico [10,22,30]. It occurs in northern Michigan and the Black Hills of South Dakota [21,58,69].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES44 Alpine

STATES:

AK  AZ  CA  CO  ID 
ME  MI  MT  NV  NH
NM  NY  NC  OR  SD  
UT  VT  WA  WY  

AB  BC  MB  NF  ON
PQ  SK

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

2 Cascade Mountains
4 Sierra Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce-fir forest
K017 Black Hills pine forest
K018 Pine-Douglas-fir forest
K019 Arizona pine forest
K021 Southwestern spruce-fir forest
K024 Juniper steppe woodland
K050 Fescue-wheatgrass
K052 Alpine meadows and barren
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K063 Foothills prairie

SAF COVER TYPES:

206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
216 Blue spruce
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

102 Idaho fescue
107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
110 Ponderosa pine-grassland
213 Alpine grassland
216 Montane meadows
305 Idaho fescue-Richardson needlegrass
306 Idaho fescue-slender wheatgrass
312 Rough fescue-Idaho fescue
313 Tufted hairgrass-sedge
323 Shrubby cinquefoil-rough fescue
410 Alpine rangeland
411 Aspen woodland
613 Fescue grassland
902 Alpine herb
909 Freshwater marsh

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Timber oatgrass is an indicator of climax in a number of grassland and forest habitat types or plant communities, including ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (P. contorta), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)-grass, silver sagebrush (A. cana), western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and some white fir (Abies concolor) types.

Timber oatgrass commonly occurs in small, isolated grasslands of northwestern Montana that are considered mixtures of palouse and Alberta fescue (Festuca spp.) grasslands with species such as bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Idaho fescue (F. idahoensis), and rough fescue (F. altaica) [9,30]. It is rarely found in the Palouse prairie [30]. Timber oatgrass grows in small openings surrounded by lodgepole pine and in groves of quaking aspen [30]. Timber oatgrass occurs as a dominant in fescue-oatgrass (Danthonia spp.) associations in Alberta and Saskatchewan [6,30]. In subalpine meadow communities of the northern Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, timber oatgrass commonly grows with species such as wedge-leaf cinquefoil (Potentilla diversifolia), reedgrass (Calamagrostis spp.), and sedges (Carex spp.) [13,42]. In quaking aspen and ponderosa pine communities of South Dakota, common associates include bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), and bluegrass (Poa spp.) [59]. Timber oatgrass occurs with shrubby cinquefoil (P. fruticosa) in riparian shrub communities of Montana and Nevada [38,46,60].

A variety of forbs and grasses occur with timber oatgrass in grasslands and shrublands of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, including slender cinquefoil (P. gracilis), oneflower fleabane (Erigeron simplex), alpine oreoxis (Oreoxis alpina ssp. puberulenta), sibbaldia (Sibbaldia procumbens), low goldenrod (Solidago multiradiata), tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa), prairiesmoke avens (Geum triflorum), bearded wheatgrass (Elymus caninus), blue wildrye (E. glaucus ssp. glaucus), prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), needlegrass (Stipa spp.), and Parry oatgrass (D. parryi) [2,5,28,43,61]

Publications listing timber oatgrass as an indicator are listed below:

A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado [2]
Summary flora of riparian shrub communities of the Intermountain region with emphasis on willows [16]
Grassland, shrubland, and forestland habitat types of the White River-Arapaho National Forest [19]
Plant associations of the Wallowa-Snake Province: Wallowa-Whitman National Forest [24]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre National Forests [28]
Preliminary riparian community type classification for Nevada [38]
The vegetation of Alberta [41]
Grassland and shrubland habitat types of western Montana [43]
Classification of deer habitat in the ponderosa pine forest of the Black Hills, South Dakota [59]
Riparian classification for the Upper Salmon/Middle Fork Salmon River drainages, Idaho [60]

Related categories for SPECIES: Danthonia intermedia | Timber Oatgrass