United States Department of Agriculture Alpine and Subalpine Forest of the Service Vegetation Pacific Wallowa, Seven Devils and Northwest Region Blue Mountains By Charles Grier Johnson Jr. Alpine and Subalpine Vegetation of the Wallowa, Seven Devils, and Blue Mountains Charles G. Johnson, Jr. PHOTOS: Front Cover: Glacier Lake and Cusick Mountain in the Wallowa Mountains. Title Page: Grazing mountain goats on the summit of Cusick Mountain, Wallowa Mountains. Back Cover: Subalpine fir nursed by a whitebark pine snag. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s 2004 TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of USDA - Forest Service discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC Pacific Northwest Region 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. R6-NR-ECOL-TP-03-04 To My Packers Field Assistants Access to remote subalpine portions of the mountains often required special assistance from packers for the equipment, gear, and supplies Over the years there have been many who have assisted me with necessary for 8 to 10-day hitches. Although the majority of the plots were access into remote subalpine portions of the mountains enabling me to established far and high above base camps, these experienced packers conduct field studies. Others have accompanied me to assist with also pitched-in to scribe the data, dig a soil pit, or jiffy-up a tasty meal. For all the long trail miles and pleasant times in magnificent landscapes, sampling of vegetation and soils. To all of these individuals, I owe a I'm deeply indebted to these dedicated individuals. great belated “thank you.” Wallowa Mountains Fred Talbott, Margaret Connelly, Rick Miller, Steven Simon, Mary Brodahl, Bob Sheehy, Tom Dechert, Jim Barrett, Art Kreger, Jerry Wayne Hernandez, Pete Schreder, Howard Lyman, Jerry Hustafa, Max Mallory, Burlison and Carolyn McCormack. 1983 Seven Devils Fred Talbot Mountains Seven Devils Mountains 1977 Red Woods, Wayne Burlison, Angelica Johnson, Frank Conley, and Wallowa Mountains Cathy Conover. Elkhorn Mountains Patty Shinn. Greenhorn Mountains Melica Johnson. Patty Shinn 1995 Elkhorn Strawberry/Aldrich Mountains Mountains Pete Schreder, Mark Penninger, and Gene Yates. Pete Schreder 1992-1994 Wallowa Mountains Strawberry Mountains Cathy Conover Howard Lyman Max Mallory 1997 1996-1998-1999 2000 Seven Devils Wallowa Mountains Wallowa Mountains Mountains Office Assistants Each year data collected were entered into electronic databases and computer runs made to assist in classifying the vegetation into types. Finally, after writing the findings, words and images were placed into a document for the printing of this publication. My gratitude is given to the following people that assisted me in these endeavors. Data entry, herbarium mounting, and filing: Alice DeVries, Jessica Wright, and Erin Williams. Computer database maintenance, computer runs, and statistical analyses: Steven Simon, Rod Clausnitzer, Elizabeth Crowe, Art Kreger, Sara Lovtang, and David Swanson. Reviewers: Technical Reviews were made by: Dr. Steve Brunsfeld, University of Idaho Dr. Steve Cooper, Montana Natural Heritage Program Dr. Tom DeMeo, U.S. Forest Service, Regional Office Technical Editor: Carolyn Wilson, U.S. Forest Service, PNW Research Station. Layout and Design: Angelica Johnson and Gail Saunders-Boyle. Word Processing and Formatting: Kathy Hottle. Photo Credits All photographic images were created by the author (except as noted on the printed photograph). Special thanks go out to Bruce Barnes and Elaine Urban for helping locate high quality images of indicator species that were lacking. Line Drawings: The pen and ink drawings of plant parts have been used by permission of the University of Washington Press (Seattle, Washington) and were copied from “Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest” (Volumes 1-5) by C.L. Hitchcock, A. Cronquist, M. Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. I began my journey into the alpine wonderlands of the inland Pacific Northwest about the time this photo was taken in 1964. My initial goal was to climb the twenty highest peaks of the Wallowa Mountains and learn some plants along the way. Over the ensuing years I continued climbing to the summits of many mountains and spent quality time with the subalpine and alpine flora. In 1964, another Johnson (Lyndon Baines) signed the Wilderness Act in Washington, D.C. and the Eagle Cap Wilderness was created. I became one of the first wilderness guards in the new Eagle Cap Wilderness. As the Lakes Basin Guard, the subalpine forests, alpine ridges, and soaring peaks were my "office." I continued to climb, but my interests were shifting to the flora. I was inquisitive. I spent my nights keying unknown plants by lantern light at my Douglas Lake camp. A two-year sabbatical from northeast Oregon began in 1967, when I went to Chile with the Peace Corps. This experience heightened my interest in subalpine vegetation, when my culminating year was spent studying, mapping, and documenting the subalpine plant communities in the high southern Andes Mountains. This would propel me to graduate studies at the University of Idaho where plant ecology would be my focus. In 1972, I became familiar with another northeast Oregon wilderness area as a member of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness trail crew. This experience provided me with more opportunities to learn new subalpine plants and begin an understanding of the plant communities in which they occurred. My goals were now changing from mountain climbing and floral identification, to a desire to differentiate the various plant communities, and to better understand the elements influencing where a particular plant grows and establishes its residency. In 1977, following advanced studies in plant ecology at Oregon State University, I became the first plant ecologist for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests. In 1980, as part of the Forest Service "potential plant community classification effort for Washington and Oregon," I began systematically sampling the subalpine and alpine ecosystems of the Wallowa, Seven Devils, and Blue Mountains. This book culminates my multi-year effort to seek, learn, document, and analyze the alpine and subalpine plant community information gathered from many trips into the high mountains. Hopefully the information contained in the following pages will assist managers in maintaining and enhancing these fragile ecosystems, and help visitors using this book better understand and appreciate the magnificent diversity of plants and plant communities that exist in these high altitude landscapes. Charles G. Johnson Jr., PhD Baker City, Oregon Table of Contents Introduction . .1 Location of Study . .2 Alpine and Subalpine - Defined . .9 Vegetation . .10 Physiology . .18 Geology . .18 Climate . .26 Management Considerations . .29 - Forests . .29 - Shrublands . .34 - Grasslands . .34 The Plant Association Concept . .35 Successional Terminology . .37 Zonal Relationships . .38 Indicator Species . .38 Data Analyses . .38 Format of the Vegetation Descriptions . .39 Estimating Cover . .40 Keys for Subalpine and Alpine Vegetation . .41 Table of Contents - Vegetation Descriptions . .55 Descriptions of the Vegetation . .62 - 286 Plant Indicator Species Descriptions Table of Contents . .287 - 292 Indicator Species Descriptions . .294 - 601 Trees . .294 - 321 Shrubs . .322 - 369 Grasses . .370 - 407 Grasslikes . .408 - 427 Forbs . .428 - 601 Glossary . .603 - 604 Literature Cited . .605 - 611 Appendix A . .A1 - A16 Appendix B . .B1 - B4 Introduction The vegetation of high elevations in the mountains of northeast Oregon and adjacent Idaho has been previously described. In 1987 some of the higher elevation plant communities of the Wallowa and Seven Devils Mountains were included in the classification and management guide Plant Associations of the Wallowa-Snake Province (Johnson and Simon 1987). The higher elevation vegetation of the Blue Mountains was incorporated in the classification and management guide Plant Associations of the Blue and Ochoco Mountains (Johnson and Clausnitzer 1992). The remote topography, difficult accessibility, and high variation in types of vegetation and plant communities limited the information and data available for those publications. In 1993, and continuing through 2002, an effort was made to bolster the number of plots providing data about subalpine and alpine vegetation and to visit a greater representation of high-elevation landscapes to provide better information for land managers, specialists, scientists, and recreationists. In all, 582 permanent plots have been installed for the purposes of this study and are now available for documenting change in the future. The objectives of this study were to complete the upland classification of vegetation for subalpine and alpine environments, provide a guide for managers to use in determining vegetation types and their potential based on environmental factors, and establish a scientific basis for