Idaho fescue is one of the most common and widely
distributed grasses in the western states [282]. It occurs from northern New
Mexico and the White Mountains and San Francisco Peaks of Arizona [153] to the
Sierra Nevada of east-central California; north through Colorado, Utah,
Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and the Cascade and Olympic ranges of Oregon and
Washington; into British Columbia, Alberta, [133] and Saskatchewan [36]. Idaho
fescue is a minor component of plains grasslands east of the Rocky Mountain Front
[247]. Its range is reported to extend east into western South Dakota [283],
although Houtcooper and others [139] list it as possibly rare, declining, or
extirpated in that state since no sites had been verified. Hinckley [129] reports
Idaho fescue in the Mount Livermore area of western Texas. Idaho fescue is also
occurs in the coastal prairies and annual grasslands of coastal northwestern
California [126,155]. It is rare or does not occur in southern portions of
California, Nevada, and Arizona [282]. Idaho fescue is associated with the
rough fescue (Festuca altaica) prairie in south-central Canada and
Montana [67], and with Palouse prairie in eastern Oregon and Washington, southern
Idaho and British Columbia, and the intermountain valleys of western Montana
[81]. The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides a distributional
map of Idaho fescue in the United States (http://plants.usda.gov/plants/)
[283].
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
208 Whitebark pine
209 Bristlecone 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
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
222 Black cottonwood-willow
224 Western hemlock
227 Western redcedar-western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
233 Oregon white oak
235 Cottonwood-willow
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
246 California black oak
247 Jeffrey pine
248 Knobcone pine
249 Canyon live oak
250 Blue oak-foothills pine
255 California coast live oak
256 California mixed subalpine
Idaho fescue is a climax indicator or dominant species in
numerous habitat types of grassland, sagebrush, forest, alpine, and riparian
ecosystems. A selection of published classifications naming it as a codominant
species in habitat types, community types or plant associations and
representing its range of occurrence is listed below:
Forest vegetation on National Forests in the Rocky Mountain and
Intermountain Regions: habitat types and community types [4]
Plant community classification for alpine vegetation on the Beaverhead National
Forest, Montana [63]
Forest habitat types of northern Idaho: a second approximation [64]
Steppe vegetation of Washington [76]
Vegetational zonation in the Rocky Mountains [77]
Forest vegetation of eastern Washington and northern Idaho [78]
Yellowstone vegetation: Consequences of environment and history in a natural
setting [86]
Plant communities and habitat types in the Lava Beds National Monument,
California [102]
The vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland Districts of
the Custer National Forest: a habitat type classification [122]
Classification and management of Montana's riparian and wetland sites [123]
Sagebrush-grass habitat types of southern Idaho [130]
Forest vegetation of the Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming: a habitat type
classification [135]
Plant associations of the Crooked River National Grassland [138]
Riparian reference area in Idaho: a catalog of plant associations and
conservation sites [142]
Plant associations of the Wallowa-Snake Province: Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest [146]
Forest vegetation of the Gunnison and parts of the Uncompahgre National
Forests: a preliminary habitat classification [158]
Coniferous forest habitat types of northern Utah [182]
Plant communities of the Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, and their
relationships to soils [186]
Grassland and shrubland habitat types of western Montana [205]
Forest habitat types of Montana [221]
Forest habitat types of central Idaho [256]
Shrub-steppe habitat types of Middle Park, Colorado [270]
Canyon grasslands and associated shrublands of West-central Idaho and adjacent
areas [271]
Grassland and shrubland habitat types on the Shoshone National Forest [278]
A management-oriented classification of pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Great
Basin [300]
Idaho fescue is classified as a codominant with the following species:
Because of its wide ecological distribution, the number and type of
secondary species associated with Idaho fescue are very large and highly
variable.In western Washington, Columbian whitetop aster (Sericocarpus
rigidus) on the list of sensitive taxa in Washington is most likely to be
found on undisturbed sites dominated by Idaho fescue [58]. It is also
associated with clubmosses (Selanginella spp.) [288] and soil cryptograms
[150].
Related categories for
SPECIES: Festuca idahoensis
| Idaho Fescue
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Information
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System
