DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Larix occidentalis | Western Larch 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Western larch grows in the Upper Columbia River Basin from southeastern
British Columbia to northwestern Montana, northern and west-central
Idaho, and northeastern Washington.  Its range includes the Blue and
Wallowa mountains of southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon and
the east slopes of the Cascade Mountains in Washington and northern
Oregon [58,116].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine


STATES : 
     ID  MT  OR  WA  BC


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CODA  GLAC  NOCA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    2  Cascade Mountains
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   212  Western Larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   218  Lodgepole pine
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   224  Western hemlock
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   237  Interior ponderosa pine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Since western larch is primarily a seral species on sites where western
hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana), Pacific
silver fir (Abies amabilis), subalpine fir (A. lasiocarpa), grand fir
(A. grandis), western redcedar (Thuja plicata), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii), or Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) are potential climax
dominants, it is not used as an indicator of climax vegetation in
habitat type classifications.  It is a seral species in 13 habitat types
in eastern Washington and northern Idaho and a major seral species in 12
habitat types in Montana [117].  In the Pacific Northwest, western larch
serves as an indicator of previous severe fires on fairly good to good
sites [45].  Habitat type indicators can be used to make a general
determination of western larch productivity [104].  Published
classification schemes listing western larch as an indicator or dominant
in community types (cts) or dominance types (dts) are presented below:

Area                    Classification        Authority

MT                      riparian dts          Hansen and others 1988
  
WA, OR; Blue Mountains  general veg. cts      Hall 1973

Related categories for Species: Larix occidentalis | Western Larch