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Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea - Vaccinium scoparium Forest | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea - Vaccinium scoparium Forest
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This association is found from central Idaho (middle Rocky Mountains) and extreme northwestern Oregon's Blue Mountains northward to northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, British Columbia and southwestern Alberta (northern Rocky Mountains and Canadian Rockies). It is generally characterized as occurring at the highest elevations of mesic forests, which is roughly from 1830 to 2200 m (6000-7200 feet). Though sites are relatively mesic, located predominantly on moderate to steep north- to east-facing slopes that may receive greater amounts of moisture due to blow-over, they are also stressful due to the frequency of high winds and cold temperatures. It is hypothesized that these sites receive less snowload and/or experience a later melt-off date than those supporting ~<i>Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea / Luzula glabrata var. hitchcockii</i> Woodland (CEGL005896)$$ and occupy colder microenvironments than does ~<i>Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea / Xerophyllum tenax</i> Forest (CEGL005895)$$. Parent materials are various, composed of colluvium (of sedimentary and intrusive igneous nature) and ash cap to Lithosols composed of both calcareous and noncalcareous sedimentary rock. This open forest type is <i>Abies lasiocarpa</i>- and <i>Picea engelmannii</i>-dominated from the time of earliest post-shrub stage of succession. <i>Pinus contorta</i> and <i>Pinus albicaulis</i> are the only seral species of note. Tree height is usually less than 18 m (60 feet). The undergrowth is comparatively species-poor, but its cover, between the tall-shrub layer of <i>Menziesia ferruginea, Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata</i>, and <i>Sorbus scopulina</i>, and short/dwarf-shrub layer of <i>Vaccinium membranaceum, Vaccinium scoparium</i>, and <i>Vaccinium myrtillus</i>, is virtually continuous. The species-depauperate forb layer is almost invariably dominated by <i>Xerophyllum tenax</i> with <i>Arnica cordifolia, Arnica latifolia, Goodyera oblongifolia</i>, and various <i>Pedicularis</i> species having the highest constancy. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:34547-{4F8030BD-BF03-4E32-BA61-852F4DFBB42F}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 13-Feb-2004 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.730833 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL005894
  Translated: Subalpine Fir - Engelmann Spruce / Rusty Menziesia - Grouse Whortleberry Forest
  Scientific: Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea - Vaccinium scoparium Forest
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea - Vaccinium scoparium Forest
(similar) Abies lasiocarpa - Picea engelmannii / Menziesia ferruginea - Vaccinium scoparium Forest