DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Artemisia cana ssp. viscidula | Mountain Silver Sagebrush 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Mountain silver sagebrush is generally restricted to areas along and
west of the Continental Divide.  Its range extends from southeastern
Oregon, southern Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming southward through eastern
Nevada, Utah, and Colorado and into the northern portions of Arizona and
New Mexico [2,4,15].  This subspecies has been found east of the Divide
at the northern extension of its range in Montana, both in Beaverhead
County [24] and in Cascade County [29].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands


STATES : 
     AZ  CO  ID  MT  NV  NM  OR  UT  WY


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CEBR  GLAC  GRTE  ROMO  YELL  ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    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
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K037  Mountain mahogany - oak scrub
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K063  Foothills prairie


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir 
   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 : 
Mountain silver sagebrush is considered a climax species within
nonforested communities.  It has been used as an indicator species in a
number of grassland, shrubland, and riparian typing systems throughout
the Rocky Mountains.  Publications listing mountain silver sagebrush as
a dominant or codominant shrub layer species are as follows:

A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado [1]
Classification of Artemisia vegetation in the Gros Ventre area, Wyoming [6]
Habitat characteristics of the Silver Lake mule deer range [8]
Sagebrush-grass habitat types of southern Idaho [16]
Plant associations of Region 2: Potential plant communities of Wyoming,
  South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas [17]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre National
Forests [18]
Grizzly bear distribution, use of habitats, food habits, and habitat
  characterization in Pelican and Hayden Valleys, Yellowstone National
  Park [14]
Grassland and Shrubland habitat types of western Montana [25]
The vegetation of Jackson Hole Wildlife Park, Wyoming [27]
A preliminary description of plant communities found on the Sawtooth,
  White Cloud, Boulder, and Pioneer Mountains [28]
Soil-vegetation relationships of some Artemisia types in North Park,
  Colorado [31]
Shrub-steppe habitat types of Middle Park, Colorado [33]
Plant associations (habitat types) of Region 2 [34]
Riparian community type classification of eastern Idaho - western
  Wyoming [42]

Species commonly associated with mountain silver sagebrush include
native grasses such as slender wheatgrass (Elymus caninus), Sandberg
bluegrass (Poa secunda), bromes (Bromus spp.), fescues (Festuca spp.)
and a variety of rushes and sedges (Carex spp.).  Seeded grasses have
become established on many areas; understories are sometimes composed
entirely of Kentucky bluegrass (P. pratense), rushes, and sedges.
Extensive, meadow-like stands have been reported on gently sloping,
alluvial benches, and toeslopes in portions of western Wyoming [42].

Related categories for Species: Artemisia cana ssp. viscidula | Mountain Silver Sagebrush