DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Betula occidentalis | Water Birch 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Water birch is distributed from southern Alaska to southern Manitoba and
North Dakota, and south to southern California and New Mexico [31].  It
is absent along the Pacific Coast mountain ranges [1].  In California,
water birch is found mainly on the east side of the southern Sierra
Nevada Mountains, with only a few isolated colonies on the west side
[13], and is mostly lacking from the central and northern Sierra Nevada
Mountains [39].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  CA  CO  ID  MT  NE  NV  ND  OR  SD
     UT  WA  WY  AB  BC  MB  NT  SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BAND  BICA  BLCA  BRCA  CACH  CANY
     CARE  CEBR  COLM  CODA  DEVA  DINO
     FLFO  GLAC  GLCA  GRCA  GRTE  GRKO
     MEVE  MORU  NOCA  ROMO  THRO  TICA
     WICA  YELL  YOSE  ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Peidmont
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa 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
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K098  Northern floodplain forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   213  Grand fir
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   247  Jeffrey pine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Water birch is most often found in riparian woodland communitiesqq
characterized by cottonwoods (Populus spp.), willows (Salix spp.),
alders (Alnus spp.), and box elder (Acer negundo) [15,21,25,35,47].
These communities often occur as narrow bands adjacent to streams on
alluvial terraces throughout the mountainous West in the Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), or Engelmann
spruce (Picea engelmannii) zones but may extend well into big sagebrush
(Artemisia tridentata) flats [18,30,34,47].  Water birch also grows in
riparian communities in the Mojave Desert of California [13].  In North
Dakota, aspen (Populus tremuloides)/water birch habitat types are found
on relatively steep northeast- to east-facing slopes of upland ravines
[16].

Published classification schemes listing water birch as a dominant part
of the vegetation in community types (cts), habitat types (hts),
riparian site types (rst), or dominance types (dts) are presented below.

    Area              Classification                Authority

ND: Theodore           general veg. hts          Hansen, Hoffman, 
Roosevelt Natl Park                              and Bjugstad 1984

seMT,swND,nwSD,neWY:   upland forest &           Hansen, Hoffman, 
Missouri Plateau       woodland veg. hts         and Steinauer 1984

MT,WY: Bighorn Canyon  general veg. cts          Knight & others 1987
Natl Rec Area

WY                     riparian veg. cts         Olson and Gerhart 1982

CO                     general veg. cts          Baker 1984

MT                     riparian veg. dts         Hansen, Chadde, and
                                                 Pfister 1988

swMT                   riparian veg. rst,cts,hts Hansen, Pfister, Joy
                                                 [and others] 1989


nUT, seID              riparian veg. cts         Youngblood & others
                                                 1985

sUT                    riparian veg. cts         Padgett and Youngblood 
                                                 1986
                 

Related categories for Species: Betula occidentalis | Water Birch