DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Tsuga mertensiana | Mountain Hemlock 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Mountain hemlock occurs along the crest of the Sierra Nevada; the Coast
Ranges and Cascade Range in Oregon; the Cascade Range and Olympic
Mountains in Washington; the northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho and
western Montana; the Insular, Coast, and Columbia mountains in British
Columbia; and in southeast and south-central Alaska [4,8,32,46].  In
California it is also locally abundant in the Klamath Mountains.  The
extreme southern limit of mountain hemlock is near Silliman Lake in
Tulare County, California [32].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  CA  ID  MT  OR  WA  AB  BC


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CRLA  GLAC  KICA  LACL  LAVO  MORA
     NOCA  OLYM  SEQU  WRST  YOSE


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    4  Sierra Mountains
    8  Northern Rocky 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
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   212  Western larch
   215  Western white pine
   218  Lodgepole pine
   256  California mixed subalpine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Mountain hemlock commonly occurs as a dominant or codominant in
high-elevation alpine or subalpine forests.  In western Washington and
Oregon, the mountain hemlock zone is the highest forested zone [32].
Mountain hemlock is often codominant with Pacific silver fir (Abies
amabilis) [1,21].  One of the most widespread mountain hemlock
communities is the mountain hemlock-Pacific silver fir/big huckleberry
(Vaccinium membranaceum) type found in British Columbia and the Oregon
and Washington Cascades.  In the Rocky Mountains, the mountain
hemlock/beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) habitat type is generally found on
south slopes and is characterized by a high cover of beargrass with big
huckleberry and grouse whortleberry (V. scoparium) as common associates.
A similar Pacific silver fir-mountain hemlock/beargrass association is
found in Oregon [49].  Published classifications identifying mountain
hemlock as a dominant or codominant are as follows:

Forest types of the North Cascades National Park Service complex [1].
Preliminary plant associations of the Southern Oregon Cascade Mountain
  Province [5].
Preliminary plant associations of the Siskiyou Mountain Province [6].
Plant association and management guide for the Pacific silver fir zone [12].
Forest habitat types of northern Idaho: A second approximation [15].
Classification of montane forest community types in the Cedar River
  drainage of western Washington, U.S.A. [18].
Preliminary forest plant association management guide. Ketchikan area,
  Tongass National Forest [19].
Subalpine plant communities of the western North Cascades, Washington [21].
Alpine and high subalpine plant communities of the North Cascades Range,
  Washington and British Columbia [22].
Fire ecology of western Montana forest habitat types [25].
Forest vegetation of the montane and subalpine zones, Olympic Mountains,
  Washington [27].
Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington [29].
The forest communities of Mount Rainier National Park [30].
Plant associations of south Chiloquin and Klamath ranger districts--
  Winema National forest [37].
Vegetation and environment in old growth forests of northern southeast
  Alaska: a plant association classification [48].
Forest habitat types of Montana [57].
Preliminary classification of forest vegetation of the Kenai Peninsula,
  Alaska [61].
Preliminary forest plant associations of the Stikine area, Tongass
  National Forest [68].

Related categories for Species: Tsuga mertensiana | Mountain Hemlock