DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Salix glauca | Grayleaf Willow 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Grayleaf willow grows throughout most of Alaska except for the Alleutian
Islands and along the southeastern coast [35].  It grows through much of
northern Canada from Newfoundland northwest to the northern Yukon
Territory, and south to southern British Columbia and Alberta.  In the
contiguous United States, it grows in alpine and subalpine habitats in
Montana, Wyoming, eastern Idaho, Colorado, Utah, and northern New Mexico
[10].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  CO  ID  MT  NM  UT  WY  AB  BC  LB
     MB  NB  NT  ON  PQ  SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CEBR  DENA  GLAC  GRTE  LACL  ROMO
     WRST  YELL  YUCH


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K052  Alpine meadows and barren


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    12  Black spruce
   107  White spruce
   201  White spruce
   204  Black spruce
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   251  White spruce - aspen
   253  Black spruce - white spruce


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
In Alaska and northwestern Canada, grayleaf willow dominates or
codominates numerous seral willow (Salix spp.) and mixed-shrub
floodplain communities.  Riparian community associates include Alaska
willow (S. alaxensis), littletree willow (S. arbusculoides), Richardson
willow (S. lanata), diamondleaf willow (S. planifolia), and green alder
(Alnus crispa) [34].  It also codominates in some mixed-shrub tundra
communities with birches (Betula spp.), alders (Alnus spp.), and other
willows [34].  In the Rocky Mountain States, grayleaf willow/tufted
hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa) communities occupy well-drained, open
alpine and upper subalpine habitats [20,27].

Grayleaf willow occurs as scattered individuals in many boreal forests
and woodlands.  It is seldom an understory dominant, except in early
seral stages.  Douglas [11], however, described a 130- to 160-year-old
white spruce (Picea glauca)/grayleaf willow community in southwestern
Yukon Territory.

Classifications listing grayleaf willow as a dominant in community types
(cts) and habitat types (hts) are presented below:

       Area              Classification                Authority

AK                     general veg. cts          Viereck & Dyrness 1980
sw YT                  montane veg. cts          Douglas 1974
CO: Gunnison &         general veg. hts          Komarkova 1986
    Uncompahgre NF
UT, se ID              riparian cts              Padgett & others 1989 
Forest Service R-2     forest, shrub, grass      Wasser & Hess 1982 
                       & forb hts  

Related categories for Species: Salix glauca | Grayleaf Willow