Name:
Pinus ponderosa Northwestern Great Plains Forest & Woodland Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This group occurs throughout the Great Plains Division along areas that border the Rocky Mountain Division and into the central Great Plains. These are physiognomically variable woodlands, ranging from very sparse patches of trees on drier, rock outcrop sites to nearly closed-canopy forest stands on north slopes or in draws where available soil moisture is higher. This group is primarily dominated by <i>Pinus ponderosa</i> but may include a sparse to relatively dense subcanopy of <i>Juniperus scopulorum</i> with just a few scattered trees. Deciduous trees are an important component in some areas (western Dakotas, Black Hills) and are sometimes codominant with the pines, including <i>Acer negundo, Betula papyrifera, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Populus tremuloides, Quercus macrocarpa</i>, and <i>Ulmus americana</i>. Important or common shrub species with ponderosa pine can include <i>Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Amelanchier alnifolia, Juniperus communis, Juniperus horizontalis, Mahonia repens, Physocarpus monogynus, Prunus virginiana, Rhus trilobata, Symphoricarpos</i> spp., and <i>Yucca glauca</i>. The herbaceous understory can range from sparse to a dense layer with species typifying the surrounding prairie group, with mixedgrass species common, such as <i>Andropogon gerardii, Bouteloua curtipendula, Carex filifolia, Carex inops ssp. heliophila, Danthonia intermedia, Koeleria macrantha, Nassella viridula, Oryzopsis asperifolia, Pascopyrum smithii, Piptatheropsis micrantha</i>, and <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i>. This group occurs on gentle to steep slopes in the montane zone of the Black Hills and in surrounding areas along escarpments, buttes, canyons, rock outcrops or ravines and can grade into one of the Great Plains canyon groups or the surrounding mixedgrass prairie group. Soils typically range from well-drained loamy sands to sandy loams formed in colluvium of weathered sandstone, limestone, or scoria, rock outcrop or eolian sand. Timber cutting and other disturbances have degraded many examples of this group within the Great Plains; however, some good examples may occur along the Pine Ridge escarpment and Pine Ridge district of the Nebraska National Forest in Nebraska. The expansion of this group from the Black Hills montane zone into the central Great Plains may be due to fire suppression.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40011-{A86C1997-DCCB-4D7A-80CF-3C6234FDC3EA}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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