DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Picea pungens | Blue Spruce 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Blue spruce is restricted to the central and southern Rocky Mountains.
Its range extends from scattered populations in eastern Idaho and
western Wyoming to better developed populations in Utah and Colorado.
The range of blue spruce continues southward into Arizona and New Mexico
[22,38,77,103,104].  It occurs rarely in north-central Montana [113].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods


STATES : 
     AZ  CO  HI  ID  MT  NM  UT  WY


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ALPO  BAND  BLCA  BRCA  CACH  CEBR
     EFMO  FLFO  GATE  GRCA  GRTE  GRSM
     ROMO  SCBL  SHEN  TICA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    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 : 
   K012  Douglas-fir forest,
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K022  Great Basin pine forest
   K025  Alder - ash forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   216  Blue spruce
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   219  Limber pine
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Blue spruce occurs as dominant or codominant in small stands or as
scattered individuals.  In riparian settings, blue spruce is codominant
with cottonwoods such as narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) or
balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) [7,85,117].  Blue spruce is more
important in habitat type series of the central Rocky Mountains.  Blue
spruce series are restricted to cool, moist areas thoughout the
southwestern mixed-conifer forests [1,26,120].  Common codominants are
Engelmann spruce, white fir (Abies concolor), and Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii) [3,26,88].

Blue spruce is often a long-lived seral species.  It is seral in white
fir, corkbark fir (Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica), or fir phases of
Engelmann spruce habitat types [3,39].  It infrequently occurs in the
spruce-fir subalpine zone [31].

Some of the many publications that list blue spruce as an indicator or
dominant in habitat or community types are:

(1)  Classification of the forest vegetation on the National Forests of
       Arizona and New Mexico [3]
(2)  Classification of riparian vegetation of the montane and subalpine
       zones in western Colorado [7]
(3)  Aspen community types of Utah [88]
(4)  A physical and biological characterization of riparian habitat and
       its importance to wildlife in Wyoming [91].

Related categories for Species: Picea pungens | Blue Spruce