Grand fir has a split distribution. Along the Pacific Coast it occurs from southern British Columbia south to Sonoma County, California, and east to the Cascade Range of central Oregon. In the continental interior it occurs from the Okanagan and Kootenay lakes region of British Columbia south to eastern Oregon, central Idaho, and west of the Continental Divide in Montana [71,174].
Grand fir is planted for lumber and as an ornamental in Hawaii [168] and Europe [141].
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
207 Red fir
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
215 Western white pine
218 Lodgepole pine
221 Red alder
222 Black cottonwood-willow
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
231 Port-Orford-cedar
232 Redwood
233 Oregon white oak
237 Interior ponderosa pine
Grand fir is an indicator of productive forest sites [80,88,117]. Mature grand fir stands are usually floristically diverse [43,71]. Common plant community associates of grand fir are grouped below by region.
Western Montana and northern Idaho: In Montana, the grand fir habitat type is often bound by Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) habitats on warmer, drier sites and by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) on cooler sites. In northern Idaho, the grand fir type merges into western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata) on cooler sites [145]. Western larch (Larix occidentalis), Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), and Pacific ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa var. ponderosa) are major seral species in climax interior grand fir habitats [49,74,145,172]. Understory associates are many: pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), blue huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), white spirea (Spiraea betufolia), twinflower (Linnea borealis), beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax), queencup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora), and wild ginger (Asarum caudatum) are among the most common [43,145,49].
Washington, Oregon, and California: Grand fir occurs on moist to dry sites in the Cascade Range. Overstory associates on moist sites may include western hemlock, western redcedar, Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)[46]. Mid- and understories are diverse and dense on moist sites and commonly include Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia), red alder (Alnus rubra), Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), redstem ceanothus (Ceanothus sanguineus), shinyleaf ceanothus (C. velutinus), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.), pachistima, queencup beadlily, and/or vanillaleaf (Achlys triphylla). Hot, dry sites are usually open and less diverse, with Pacific ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and western white pine (Pinus monticola) as common overstory associates. Understories are typically grassy and dominated by pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens) and elk sedge (Carex geyeri) [33,115,181].
In the Willamette Valley of Oregon, associates of grand fir in coastal Douglas-fir-Oregon white oak (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii-Quercus garryana) include incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), Pacific ponderosa pine, California black oak (Q. kelloggii), chinquapin (Chrysolepsis chrysophylla), Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii), and bigtooth maple (Acer macrophyllum) [42].
In southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, grand fir is common in mixed evergreen and conifer forests [102], where it is associated with Shasta red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastensis), noble fir (A. procera), redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and coastal Douglas-fir [2,102]. Mid-story and shrub associates in redwood forest of Redwood National Park, California, include tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Pacific madrone, evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), red huckleberry (V. parvifolium), and Pursh's buckthorn (Frangula purshiana). Commonly associated ferns and herbs include western sword fern (Polystichum munitum), deer fern (Blechnum spicant), Oregon oxalis (Oxalis oregana), and salal (Gaultheria shallon) [125].
Hall [91] arranged grand fir plant associations by fire regime and grand fir's successional position in the plant community. Detailed lists of understory plants are included in habitat type and community type manuals for each region. Vegetation classifications describing plant communities in which grand fir is a dominant species are listed below.
Forest habitat types of northern Idaho: a second approximation [43]
Forest vegetation of eastern Washington and northern Idaho [49]
Classification of grand fir mosaic habitats [61]
Forest vegetation of the montane and subalpine zones, Olympic Mountains, Washington [72]
Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington [74]
Plant communities of the Blue Mountains in eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington [88]
Classification and management of Montana's riparian and wetland sites [96]
Plant association and management guide: Willamette National Forest [101]
Riparian reference areas in Idaho: a catalog of plant associations and conservation sites [106]
Forest habitat types of Montana [145]
Major Douglas-fir habitat types of central Idaho: a summary of succession and management [173]
Plant association and management guide for the grand fir zone, Gifford Pinchot National Forest [181]
Forest plant associations of the Colville National Forest [193]
The redwood forest and associated north coast forests [197]
Related categories for
SPECIES: Abies grandis
| Grand Fir
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