• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Antelope bitterbrush occurs from British Columbia east of the Cascade Range through Washington and Oregon; in the Klamath, North Coast, Cascade, and Sierra Nevada ranges of California; southeast into western Montana and throughout the Rocky Mountains; in the Great Basin; and in Arizona and New Mexico [30,36,102,169]. It is distributed over approximately 340 million acres [99].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper

STATES:

AZ   CA   CO   ID   MT   NV    NM   OR   UT   WA   WY

AB   BC

ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS:

No entry

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

 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

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K010 Ponderosa shrub forest
K011 Western ponderosa forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce-fir forest
K016 Eastern ponderosa pine forest
K017 Black Hills pine 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
K024 Juniper steppe woodlands
K037 Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
K038 Great Basin sagebrush
K040 Saltbush-greasewood
K055 Sagebrush steppe
K056 Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe

SAF COVER TYPES:

210 Interior Douglas-fir
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper
247 Jeffrey pine

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

104 Antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
105 Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
107 Western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass
109 Ponderosa pine shrubland
210 Bitterbrush
212 Blackbush
317 Bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass
318 Bitterbrush-Idaho fescue
319 Bitterbrush-rough fescue
401 Basin big sagebrush
402 Mountain big sagebrush
406 Low sagebrush
413 Gambel oak
415 Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
416 True mountain-mahogany
421 Chokecherry-serviceberry-rose
504 Juniper-pinyon pine woodland
509 Transition between oak-juniper woodland and mahogany-oak association

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Antelope bitterbrush appears in several mesic habitat types. Plant communities with antelope bitterbrush include range types such as antelope bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), other steppe vegetation, and tree-dominated types such as ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest and juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodland [191].

In Utah, antelope bitterbrush appears in warm, dry Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) habitat types, pinyon (Pinus spp.)-juniper "breaks," ponderosa pine, sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), and fir-spruce (Abies-Picea spp.) communities [35,40].

In Colorado, antelope bitterbrush occurs in the Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)/antelope bitterbrush habitat type and on warm, dry sites with ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), plains prickly-pear (Opuntia polyacantha), and Ross sedge (Carex rossii) [116].

Plant species associated with bitterbrush are given below.

At Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, antelope bitterbrush appears with wheatgrass (Triticeae), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides) and basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus) [14].

In lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta)/antelope bitterbrush forest in Oregon, antelope bitterbrush occurs with rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana), wax currant (Ribes cereum), and bluebunch wheatgrass [80].

In the Great Basin, antelope bitterbrush codominates in the sagebrush-grass zone along with little horsebrush (Tetradymia glabrata), green ephedra (Ephedra viridis), desert gooseberry (Ribes velutinum), and rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.). Forbs include northwestern Indian paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia), Beckwith violet (Viola beckwithii), Nevada biscuitroot (Lomatium nevadense), and Anderson larkspur (Delphinium andersonii). Grasses include bluegrass (Poa spp.), needlegrass (Stipa spp.), wildrye (Elymus spp.), wheatgrass [189], Indian ricegrass, and dropseed (Sporobolus spp.) [22].

In the Wyoming mountain shrub community, antelope bitterbrush appears with big sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, spike fescue (Leucopoa kingii), Ross sedge, and needle-and-thread grass (Stipa comata) [58].

References describing antelope bitterbrush as a community dominant or co-dominant are:

Forest vegetation of northern Idaho and adjacent Washington, and its bearing on concepts of vegetation classification [63]
Steppe vegetation of Washington [64]
Western juniper communities on rangelands of the Pacific Northwest [71]
Vegetation-soil units in the central Oregon juniper zone [77]
The vegetation of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah and Idaho [98]
Plant communities of the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington [111]
Sagebrush-grass habitat types of southern Idaho [120]
Plant associations of south Chiloquin and Klamath Ranger Districts-Winema National Forest [124]
Plant associations of the Wallowa-Snake Province: Wallowa-Whitman National Forest [129]
Forest vegetation of the Gunnison and parts of the Uncompahgre National Forests: a preliminary habitat type classification [139]
Forest habitat types of Montana [183]
Forest habitat types of central Idaho [210]
Plant associations (habitat types) of the forests and woodlands of Arizona and New Mexico [212]
Coniferous forest habitat types of central and southern Utah [252]

Related categories for SPECIES: Purshia tridentata | Antelope Bitterbrush