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

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

ECOSYSTEMS [81]:

STATES:

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [27]:

KUCHLER [123] PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

SAF COVER TYPES [64]:

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES [215]:

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

In the southern part of its distribution, Scouler willow is a common understory component of spruce/fir [244], Douglas-fir/Engelmann spruce/ponderosa pine [109], ponderosa pine, mixed conifer [109,167], Douglas-fir/white fir (Abies concolor) [95], high-altitude willow [125], montane chaparral [43], and scree forests [129]. It also occurs occasionally in stands of giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea) [118,257].

Though Scouler willow is also known as upland willow and occupies drier habitats than most willows [54], it occurs in riparian communities and floodplains in the northwest [9,147,258] and may dominate early seral vegetation on gravel bars [67]. It is also a characteristic species of riparian woodlands and scrub in the southwest [95,129,137,248], and occurs in wet meadow vegetation [29]. 

Plant Associations:
Scouler willow is commonly associated with quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), paper birch, Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), white spruce, common juniper (Juniperus communis), greyleaf willow (Salix glauca), and American green alder (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa) [7,73,92,189,245,253]. In Idaho, it is frequently associated with quaking aspen, water birch (Betula occidentalis), thinleaf alder (Alnus tenuifolia), and black cottonwood (Populus balsamitera ssp. trichocarpa) overstories at the low to mid-elevations; with aspen, Engelmann spruce, Douglas-fir, or lodgepole pine open overstories at the higher elevations; and in upland forest openings created by disturbance [33]. In the cedar-hemlock zone of northern Idaho, Scouler willow is negatively associated with redstem ceanothus (Ceanothus sanguineus), Utah honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis), and elderberry (Sambucus spp.), but positively associated with thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) [171]. It has specifically been identified in the following plant associations: white spruce-gray leaved willow-scrub birch (Betula glandulosa) association, lodgepole pine-scrub birch-lichen association [154,155], aspen/birch/redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea) association [90], 

Habitat and Community Types:
Scouler willow is a seral species common in the following habitat types: Douglas-fir/pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens) [86], Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis)/devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)/ovalleaf huckleberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) [71], grand fir/blue huckleberry (Vaccinium globulare) [75], subalpine fir/beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) [218], white fir/prince's pine (Chimaphila umbellata) [152], Douglas-fir/white spiraea (Spiraea betufolia) [76], grand fir/Rocky mountain maple [78], Douglas-fir/ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceous) [12,41,247,251,268], Engelmann spruce/myrtle huckleberry, subalpine fir/forest fleabane (Erigeron eximius), subalpine fir/thimbleberry, blue spruce (Picea pungens)/redosier dogwood, white fir/Rocky mountain maple, white fir/forest fleabane [129], and Engelmann spruce/forest fleabane [166]. In Montana and Idaho, it is common to many habitat types in the Douglas-fir, grand fir, and subalpine fir series [46,66,80]. 

Scouler willow is dominant in the mid-seral, Scouler willow shrub layer group of the following habitat types: grand fir (Abies grandis)/blue huckleberry [226], Douglas-fir/pinegrass [229], Douglas-fir/blue huckleberry [17], Douglas-fir/ninebark [17,228], Douglas-fir/Rocky mountain maple [227], Douglas-fir/white spirea [233], subalpine fir/fool's huckleberry (Menziesia ferruginea) [17], and grand fir/mountain maple (Acer glabrum) [228,231]. It may also dominate seral stands in warm, moderate to dry habitat types of Douglas-fir, grand fir, and ponderosa pine [222]. 

Scouler willow occurs in a variety of community types, which include the lodgepole pine-subalpine fir, quaking aspen-white spruce, quaking aspen-lodgepole pine-white spruce [185], and lodgepole pine-white spruce-subalpine fir community types in British Columbia [186]; and white spruce-russet buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), white spruce-quaking aspen-russet buffaloberry-twinflower (Linnaea borealis), and quaking aspen-bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) community types in the Yukon Territory [55]. Scouler willow occurs as a dominant in the tall mountain shrub component of the north Idaho seral brushfields [21,42,56,92,96,97,141,172,181,242,251,262,266]. It is dominant in the Scouler willow community type in the Yukon, with russet buffaloberry as the most prominent understory shrub [55], and may dominate other deciduous forest communities in the montane zone of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory [55,94]. Scouler willow occurs as a dominant shrub in aspen stands and in the Salix spp. community type of Wyoming [35,81]. In Nevada, Scouler willow is a dominant in the Scouler willow/tall forb community type and may dominate the tall forb undergrowth vegetation type that is transitional from riparian to upland sites [149].  Scouler willow dominates the Scouler willow riparian community type in the southwestern United States [248]. It is also a codominant tree in the quaking aspen/Scouler willow community type [63,174].

Classifications describing plant communities in which Scouler willow is a dominant species are as follows:

Arizona [248,250]
British Columbia [119]
California [99]
Idaho [174,226,227,228,229,231,232,233]
Nevada [149,174]
New Mexico [248,250]
Utah [174]

Related categories for SPECIES: Salix scouleriana | Scouler Willow