DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Festuca thurberi | Thurber Fescue 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Thurber fescue is more restricted in distribution than most western
fescues.  It occurs from southern Wyoming southward through Colorado,
southeastern Utah, and northern New Mexico [5,26,30].  Its greatest
development occurs on the Colorado Plateau.


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     CO  NM  UT  WY


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BLCA  ROMO


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   209  Bristlecone pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Thurber fescue is a climax species in a number of nonforested and
forested communities.  On grassland sites it often occurs as the climax
dominant and has been used as a series indicator.  Common associates
include Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), Arizona fescue (F.
arizonicus), Parry's oatgrass (Danthonia parryi), and American vetch
(Vicia americana).  Shrubland series using Thurber fescue as an
understory indicator include mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia
tridentata ssp. vaseyana), mountain silver sagebrush (A. cana ssp.
viscidula), and mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus).  Thurber
fescue is also an understory indicator in bristlecone pine (Pinus
aristata), Colorado blue spruce-Douglas-fir (Picea pungens-Pseudotsuga
menziesii), and aspen (Populus tremuloides) series.

Publications listing Thurber fescue as a climax indicator are as follows:

Aspen community types of Utah. [19]
A classification of forest habitat types of northern New Mexico and
  southern Colorado. [6]
Forest vegetation of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in
  central Colorado:  a habitat type classification. [12]
Forest vegetation of the Gunnison and parts of the Uncompahgre National
  Forests: a preliminary habitat type classification. [16]
Grassland, shrubland, and forest habitat types of the White
  River-Arapaho National Forest. [13]
A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado. [1]
Sagebrush-steppe habitat types in northern Colorado: a first
  approximation. [10]

Related categories for Species: Festuca thurberi | Thurber Fescue