DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Festuca subulata | Bearded Fescue 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Bearded fescue occurs from Alaska south to northern California and east
to Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, and western South Dakota [8,9,14,24,25].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows


STATES : 
     AK  CA  ID  MT  OR  SD  UT  WA  WY  AB
     BC


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     GLAC  GRTE  LAVO  MORA  MOSA  NOCA
     OLYM  REDW


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   15  Black Hills Uplift


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
   K025  Alder - ash forest
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K047  Fescue - oatgrass
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   205  Mountain hemlock
   217  Aspen
   221  Red alder
   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
   232  Redwood
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Bearded fescue is a member of maple-quaking aspen (Acer spp.-Populus
tremuloides), quaking aspen-mountain brush, and aspen-spruce-fir
(Picea-Abies spp.) communities in the mountains of northern Utah [24].
It is found in stands dominated by Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) in Red
Butte Canyon, Utah [4].

Bearded fescue is found in upland coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
forests of northern California and montane coniferous forests of the
Sierra Nevada, California [15,17].

Bearded fescue is commonly found in the Sitka spruce/devil's club (Picea
sitchensis/Oplopanax horridus) association in British Columbia and the
Pacific Northwest [1].  It is also found in the coastal Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) and western hemlock (Tsuga
heterophylla) zones of British Columbia [19].  On the Saturna Island
Ecological Reserve, British Columbia, bearded fescue is a member of a
virgin Douglas-fir forest [22].

Bearded fescue is a common understory species in red alder (Alnus rubra)
communities in the central Oregon Coast Range [3].  In Washington,
bearded fescue occurs in western hemlock/vanillaleaf (Achlys triphylla),
western hemlock/devil's club, red alder/salmonberry (Alnus rubra/Rubus
spectabilis), and Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis)/devil's club
associations [6].  At Mount St. Helens, Washington, in the airfall area
(the area surrounding the immediate devastated area), bearded fescue is
one of the dominant riparian herbs [16].

Species commonly associated with bearded fescue not previously mentioned
in Distribution and Occurrence include noble fir (Abies procera),
Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), vine maple (Acer circinatum),
dwarf Oregon-grape (Berberis nervosa), red huckleberry (Vaccinium
parviflorum), Alaska blueberry (V. alaskensis), baldhip rose (Rosa
gymnocarpa), salal (Gaultheria shallon), western fescue (Festuca
occidentalis), blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus), evergreen violet (Viola
sempervirens), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), bunchberry (Cornus
canadensis), oneleaf foamflower (Tiarella unifoliata), sweet-scented
bedstraw (Galium trifolium), starry Solomon-seal (Smilacina stellata),
thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), California hazel (Corylus cornuta var.
californica), oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), Oregon oxalis (Oxalis
oregana), western sword fern (Polystichum munitum), and bracken fern
(Pteridium aquilinum) [1,3,6,18,22].

Related categories for Species: Festuca subulata | Bearded Fescue