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

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Utah juniper is the most common tree in the Great Basin and is widely distributed throughout the arid West [67,80]. The tree occurs occasionally in southern Idaho, southern Montana, and western Wyoming, and is common in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and southeastern California. Utah juniper is the most common juniper species in Arizona [4].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES21   Ponderosa pine
FRES28   Western hardwoods
FRES29   Sagebrush
FRES30   Desert shrub
FRES34   Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35   Pinyon-juniper
FRES36   Mountain grasslands
FRES40   Desert grasslands

STATES:

AZ   CA   CO   ID   MT   NV    NM   OR   UT   WY

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

 3   Southern Pacific Border
 4   Sierra Mountains
 5   Columbia Plateau
 6   Upper Basin and Range
 7   Lower Basin and Range
 9   Middle Rocky Mountains
10   Wyoming Basin
11   Southern Rocky Mountains
12   Colorado Plateau
13   Rocky Mountain Piedmont

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K019   Arizona pine forest
K023   Juniper-pinyon woodland
K031   Oak-juniper woodlands
K032   Transition between K031 and K037
K037   Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub
K038   Great Basin sagebrush

SAF COVER TYPES:

220   Rocky Mountain juniper
237   Interior ponderosa pine
239   Pinyon-juniper
240   Arizona cypress
241   Western live oak

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

210   Bitterbrush
211   Creosote bush scrub
212   Blackbush
412   Juniper-pinyon woodland
413   Gambel oak
415   Curlleaf mountain-mahogany
416   True mountain-mahogany
417   Littleleaf mountain-mahogany
503   Arizona chaparral
504   Juniper-pinyon pine woodlands

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Utah juniper is a climax species in a number of pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.), sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)-grassland, and shrub-steppe habitat types. At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site, Utah juniper dominates with big sagebrush (A. tridentata), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), and threetip sagebrush (A. arbuscula), on areas with bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), needle-and-thread grass (Hesperostipa comata), Thurber's needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberiana), and Sandberg bluegrass (P. secunda) [3].

In Utah pinyon-juniper sites, Utah juniper dominates with singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla), Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), threetip sagebrush, black sagebrush (Artemisia nova), big sagebrush, desert ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii), curlleaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius), true mountain-mahogany (C. montanus), green rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), Stansbury cliffrose (Purshia mexicana var. stansburiana), antelope bitterbrush, desert snowberry (Symphoricarpos longiflorus), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides), sheep fescue (Festuca ovina), galleta (Hilaria jamesii), prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides), western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), Sandberg bluegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, and needle-and-thread grass [24].

In pinyon-juniper woodlands in southern California, Utah juniper dominates with singleleaf pinyon, Parry pinyon (Pinus quadrifolia), and California juniper (Juniperus californica). Common associates include Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), oaks (Quercus spp.), manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), Ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.), mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus spp.), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), ephedra (Ephedra spp.), buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), silktassel (Garrya spp.), snakeweed (Gutierrezia spp.), goldenweed (Isocoma spp.), bitterbrush (Purshia spp.), horsebrush (Tetradymia spp.), blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima), Stansbury cliffrose, Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa), California fremont (Fremontodendron californicum), desert peach (Prunus fasciculata), skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata), and needlegrass (Achnatherum spp.) [118].

Habitat typings in which Utah juniper appears as a community dominant include:

Classification of the forest vegetation of Colorado by habitat type and community type [1]
Forest and woodland habitat types (plant associations) of Arizona south of the Mogollon Rim and southwestern New Mexico [11]
Vegetation and soils of the Coils Creek Watershed [15]
Vegetation and soils of the Cow Creek Watershed [16]
Vegetation and soils of the Crane Springs Watershed [17]
Vegetation and soils of the Rock Springs Watershed [18]
Vegetation and soils of the Duckwater Watershed [20]
Vegetation and soils of the Mill Creek Watershed [21]
Vegetation and soils of the Churchill Canyon Watershed [22]
Vegetation and soils of the Pine and Mathews Canyon Watersheds [23]
Vegetation of the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming, in relation to substrate and climate [38]
Grassland, shrubland, and forestland habitat types of the White River-Arapaho National Forest [65]
A preliminary riparian habitat type classification system for the Bureau of Land Management Districts in southern and eastern Idaho [61]
Forest and woodland habitat types (plant associations) of northern New Mexico and northern Arizona [81]
Flora of the Orange Cliffs of Utah [110]

Related categories for SPECIES: Juniperus osteosperma | Utah Juniper