DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Deschampsia cespitosa | Tufted Hairgrass 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Tufted hairgrass has circumglobal distribution [43,48,56,74,100]; it is
found in moist arctic and temperate regions of the world [10,49].  It
occurs from Alaska to Greenland [49,56] and south in the western United
States into northern Mexico [50,100].  It is occasional in the Black
Hills and the northern Great Plains [63].  It occurs from Minnesota to
Maine and south to Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia [90].  Tufted
hairgrass is native to North America [43], but some European populations
have been introduced [29].  Tufted hairgrass is cultivated in Hawaii
from European stock [105].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White-red-jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce-fir
   FRES13  Loblolly-shortleaf pine
   FRES15  Oak-hickory
   FRES17  Elm-ash-cottonwood
   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
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   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
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  CA  CO  CT  DE  GA  HI  ID  IL
     IA  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN  MT  NV  NH  NJ
     NM  NY  NC  ND  OH  OR  PA  RI  SD  UT
     VT  VA  WA  WV  WI  WY  AB  BC  MB  NB
     NF  NT  NS  ON  PE  PQ  SK  YT  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ACAD  ANIA  BIHO  BICA  BRCA  CEBR
     CRLA  DEWA  DENA  DEPO  FLFO  FOBU
     GLBA  GLAC  GRCA  GRTE  GRKO  GRBA
     ISRO  KATM  LACL  LAVO  MORA  NOCA
     OLYM  ORCA  PIRO  PORE  REDW  ROMO
     SEKI  TICA  WRST  YELL  YOSE  YUCH


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   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
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine-subalpine forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar-hemlock-pine forest
   K014  Grand fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce-fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine-Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K020  Spruce-fir-Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce-fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K023  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   K025  Alder-ash forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K035  Coastal sagebrush
   K037  Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K040  Saltbush-greasewood
   K047  Fescue-oatgrass
   K048  California steppe
   K051  Wheatgrass-bluegrass
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K058  Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass
   K065  Grama-buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass-needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
   K070  Sandsage-bluestem prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K093  Great Lakes spruce-fir forest
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce-fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K101  Elm-ash forest
   K102  Beech-maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods-fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods-spruce forest
   K110  Northeastern oak-pine forest
   K111  Oak-hickory-pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce-tamarack
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    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
    26  Sugar maple-basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    30  Red spruce-yellow birch
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce-balsam fir
    34  Red spruce-Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch-red spruce-balsam fir
    38  Tamarack
    39  Black ash-American elm-red maple
    52  White oak-black oak-northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    57  Yellow-poplar
    58  Yellow-poplar-eastern hemlock
    59  Yellow-poplar-white oak-northern red oak
    60  Beech-sugar maple
    62  Silver maple-American elm
    63  Cottonwood
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce-paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   221  Red alder
   222  Black cottonwood-willow
   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
   232  Redwood
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir-tanoak-Pacific madrone
   235  Cottonwood-willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon-juniper
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   251  White spruce-aspen
   252  Paper birch
   253  Black spruce-white spruce
   254  Black spruce-paper birch
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   102  Idaho fescue
   103  Green fescue
   109  Ponderosa pine shrubland
   110  Ponderosa pine-grassland
   203  Riparian woodland
   204  North coastal shrub
   209  Montane shrubland
   213  Alpine grassland
   214  Coastal prairie
   215  Valley grassland
   216  Montane meadows
   304  Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
   305  Idaho fescue-Richardson needlegrass
   306  Idaho fescue-slender wheatgrass
   307  Idaho fescue-threadleaf sedge
   308  Idaho fescue-tufted hairgrass
   309  Idaho fescue-western wheatgrass
   311  Rough fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass
   312  Rough fescue-Idaho fescue
   313  Tufted hairgrass-sedge
   315  Big sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   316  Big sagebrush-rough fescue
   319  Bitterbrush-rough fescue
   323  Shrubby cinquefoil-rough fescue
   324  Threetip sagebrush-Idaho fescue
   409  Tall forb
   410  Alpine rangeland
   411  Aspen woodland
   412  Juniper-pinyon woodland
   413  Gambel oak
   418  Bigtooth maple
   422  Riparian
   501  Saltbush-greasewood
   504  Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
   505  Grama-tobosa shrub
   601  Bluestem prairie
   606  Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass
   607  Wheatgrass-needlegrass
   608  Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass
   611  Blue grama-buffalograss


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Tufted hairgrass is an indicator or dominant species in the following
published classifications:

Ecology of wetlands in Big Meadows, Rocky Mountain National Park,
  Colorado [21]
Classification and management of Montana's riparian and wetland sites [42]
Grassland, shrubland, and forestland habitat types of the White
  River-Arapaho National Forest [47]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre National
  Forests [58]
Riparian zone associations: Deschutes, Ochoco, Fremont, and Winema
  National Forests [59]
Major indicator shrubs and herbs in riparian zones on National Forests
  of central Oregon [60] 
Preliminary riparian community type classification for Nevada [66]
Riparian community type classification of Utah and southeastern Idaho [75]
A meadow site classification for the Sierra Nevada, California [79]
Riparian community type classification of eastern Idaho - western
  Wyoming [103]

In California tufted hairgrass was one of the original native perennial
grass dominants of the north coastal prairie, a discontinuous grassland.
Original associates included California oatgrass (Danthonia
californica), western fescue (Festuca occidentalis), Idaho fescue (F.
idahoensis), and Pacific reedgrass (Calamagrostis nutkaensis).  Tufted
hairgrass is still found in this area, although the original perennial,
mid-grass dominants have been replaced for the most part by annual
grasses such as wild oat (Avena fatua), slender oat (A. barbata), soft
chess (Bromus hordeaceus), ripgut brome (B. diandrus), red brome (B.
rubens), seaside barley (Hordeum maritimum), mouse barley (H.  murinum),
little barley (H. pusillum), and foxtail fescue (Vulpia myuros) [36].
In Mendocino and Sonoma counties, California, tufted hairgrass is
commonly a dominant of coastal terraces [44].

In mountainous terrain, tufted hairgrass usually occurs in open forests
or moist openings.  In California tufted hairgrass is found in the
Klamath Mountains, the northern Coast Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada in
meadows, glades, and open forests [13].  On the White River in the
Arapaho National Forest of Colorado, tufted hairgrass occurs below
timberline on high elevation meadows and subalpine valleys, and in
hydric sites in forest openings.  It also occurs above timberline on
mesic sites with moderate snow accumulation [47].  In alpine areas of
the Beartooth Plateau in south-central Montana, tufted hairgrass is a
dominant in meadow vegetation on well-drained sheltered uplands, lower
mesic slopes, and basins protected by snow cover that may persist until
mid-July.  Tufted hairgrass is the most conspicuous species in these
habitats and may occur in nearly pure stands with up to 44 percent cover
[54].

In the pumice deposition zone of central Oregon, meadows dominated by
tufted hairgrass support an extensive grass (Poaceae)-forb component on
the more xeric portion and an extensive sedge (Cyperaceae)-rush
(Juncaceae) component on more mesic sites [97].

Related categories for Species: Deschampsia cespitosa | Tufted Hairgrass