DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Distichlis spicata | Saltgrass 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Saltgrass is widely distributed across the western United States and
Canada from Saskatchewan to eastern Washington, south to California,
Texas, and Mexico [37].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES41  Wet grasslands


STATES : 
     AZ  CA  CO  ID  IA  KS  MN  MO  MT  NE
     NV  NM  ND  OK  OR  SD  TX  UT  WA  WY
     AB  MB  SK  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     AGFO  ARCH  BADL  BICA  CACH  CANY
     COLM  DETO  DEVA  DINO  GLAC  GLCA
     GRCA  GRTE  JODA  JOTR  MEVE  ORPI
     PEFO  THRO  WHIS  WICA  WUPA  YELL
     ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    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
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K027  Mesquite bosque
   K037  Mountain mahogany - oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K039  Blackbrush
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K041  Creosote bush
   K049  Tule marshes
   K050  Fescue - wheatgrass
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta - three awn shrubsteppe
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska sandhills prairie
   K098  Northern floodplain forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   241  Western live oak
   242  Mesquite


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Saltgrass occurs in varying densities in many plant communities, but it
is only a dominant or codominant under certain conditions.  Nearly pure
stands of saltgrass are indicative of sites where soils are saline and
fine textured and where the surface soils are wet at least part of the
growing season [65,80].

Great Plains communities dominated by saltgrass occupy low, moist,
saline areas [59,77,86].  The boundary between saltgrass meadows and
upland communities is often sharp, as soil textures change along an
elevational gradient [51].

In the sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) steppe and bluebunch wheatgrass
(Pseudoroegneria spicata)-Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) vegetation
types of eastern Washington, saltgrass habitat types either consist of
pure stands of saltgrass or support a two-layered association consisting
of a continuous stand of saltgrass with well-spaced bunches of basin
wildrye (Leymus cinereus) or black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus)
[14].

Saltgrass is a dominant grass in the low-elevation desert shrub
vegetation of the Great Basin where it often forms a sod under black
greasewood, rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), or shadescale (Atriplex
confertifolia) [18,65,82].  Cooccurrence of black greasewood and
saltgrass is usually an indication of soils with high moisture content.
If soil salinity becomes greater than about 1 percent, black greasewood
gives way to pure stands of saltgrass [18].

Published classification schemes listing saltgrass as an indicator
species or as a dominant part of the vegatation are listed below:

Analysis of grassland vegetation on selected key areas in southwestern
  North Dakota. [86]
Classification and management of riparian sites in southwestern Montana.
 [34]
Classification and management of riparian and wetland sites in central
  and eastern Montana. [35]
Plant associations of Region Two. [42]
Range plant communities of the Central Grasslands Research Station in
  southwestern North Dakota. [47]
Riparian dominance types of Montana. [33]
Steppe vegetation of Washington. [14]
Vegetation and soils of the Cow Creek Watershed. [3]

Related categories for Species: Distichlis spicata | Saltgrass