DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Vaccinium alaskensis | Alaska Blueberry 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Alaska blueberry occurs from the Cascade Range in northern Oregon and
Washington to Prince William Sound, Alaska [4,32,33,55].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce


STATES : 
     AK  OR  WA  BC


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     GLBA  NOCA  OLYM


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
   1  Northern Pacific Border
   2  Cascade Mountains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir - hemlock forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   223  Sitka spruce
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
   226  Coastal true fir - hemlock
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Alaska blueberry occurs as an understory dominant or codominant in many
habitats within its range.  It is most often associated with Pacific
silver fir (Abies amabilis), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla),
mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis).
The Pacific silver fir/Alaska blueberry community type occurs over large
areas of land from northern Oregon to southern British Columbia.  It may
be the most widely represented community type within the Cascade Range
[18,20].

Other commonly associated species include noble fir (Abies procera),
Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), salal (Gaultheria shallon),
rusty menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea), beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax),
bunchberry dogwood (Cornus canadensis), Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa),
Pacific rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum), devil's club
(Oplopanax horridum), skunk cabbage (Veratrum californicum), and various
gooseberries (Ribes spp.), and blackberries (Rubus spp.). [also see SAF
cover types]

Published classification schemes identifying Alaska blueberry as a major
component of plant associations (pas), community types (cts), or habitat
types (hts) are as follows:

  AREA                    CLASSIFICATION            AUTHORITY

AK                           gen. veg. pas      Viereck & Dyrness 1980
OR: Willamette NF             forest pas        Hemstrom and others 1987
OR: MT Hood & Willamette NF   forest pas        Hemstrom and others 1982
OR: MT Hood NF                forest pas        Halverson and others 1986
OR: central Cascades          forest pas        Dyrness and others 1974
WA:Gifford Pinchot NF    Pacific silver fir     Brockway and others 1985
                              zone pas                                    
wWA                           forest cts        del Moral & Fleming 1979
wWA:Cedar River drainage  montane forest cts   del Moral & Long 1977
WA: Cascades                  forest cts        del Moral & Watson 1978
sWA: Cascades            subalpine forest pas   Franklin 1966 
WA: MT Rainier NP             forest pas        Franklin and others 1988
WA: Gifford Pinchot NF        forest pas        Topik and others 1986 
Pacific Northwest             noble fir ht      Franklin 1983

Related categories for Species: Vaccinium alaskensis | Alaska Blueberry