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

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Rough fescue subspecies' distributions overlap in the Rocky Mountain cordillera. Distributions of the subspecies are:

northern rough fescue - from Alaska and the Northwest Territories south to British Columbia [4,7]; scattered occurrences in the Great Lakes states and the eastern provinces [1,4,11,13,14]

plains rough fescue - from eastern British Columbia east to Manitoba and south to Colorado and North Dakota [4,10,13]

mountain rough fescue - from British Columbia east to Alberta and south to Montana and Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado [4,13]

ECOSYSTEMS [39]:

STATES:

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [16]:

KUCHLER [70] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

SAF COVER TYPES [36]:

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [96]:

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Common associates of rough fescue in prairie communities include timber oatgrass (Danthonia intermedia), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), bluegrass (Poa spp.), lupine (Lupinus spp.), and shrubby cinquefoil [19]. Plains rough fescue commonly occurs with blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) [74]. On the steppes of Washington, rough fescue is often associated with Idaho fescue/sulphur flower (Eriogonum heracleoides) and Idaho fescue/common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) habitat types [27]. In central Alberta and Manitoba, rough fescue commonly grows in association with porcupine grass (Stipa spartea var. curtiseta), western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), prairie junegrass, timber oatgrass, and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) [6,12].

Northern rough fescue grows in tundra meadows in Alaska with downy ryegrass (Elymus innovatus) and bluegrass (Poa spp.) [113]. In Alaskan taiga communities, northern rough fescue grows on windy foothill sites with bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) [114]. It also grows in boreal lodgepole pine forests [87].

Plains rough fescue originally occupied quaking aspen parklands and benches along the Rocky Mountain foothills [44,109]. It also grew in parts of the northern Great Plains [48]. Grazing and agriculture have largely eliminated plains rough fescue from many of the highly productive, low- elevation sites it once occupied [6,102]. Griltz and Romo [45] estimate that less than 5% of prairie once dominated by this subspecies remains, primarily as small, isolated remnants. Plains rough fescue overlaps with mountain rough fescue in parts of the Rocky Mountains [87].

Mountain rough fescue is a dominant component of several grassland associations of southern Alberta and British Columbia [1]. It also occurs in open ponderosa pine forests, in forests within the subalpine zone, and in grassy balds within forested areas [87].

Plant classifications describing communities dominated by rough fescue are as follows:

Related categories for SPECIES: Festuca altaica | Rough Fescue