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Yellowstone National Park, Resources and Issues, Vegetation

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Yellowstone National Park, Resources and Issues, Vegetation VEGETATION More than 1,300 plant taxa occur in Yellowstone National Park. The whitebark pine, shown here and found in high elevations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, is an important native species in decline. Vegetation The vegetation communities of Yellowstone National major disturbances. Yellowstone is home to three Park include overlapping combinations of species endemic plant species, at least two of which depend typical of the Rocky Mountains as well as of the on the unusual habitat created by the park’s thermal Great Plains to the east and the Intermountain region features. Most vegetation management in the park to the west. The exact vegetation community pres- is focused on minimizing human-caused impacts on ent in any area of the park reflects the consequences their native plant communities to the extent feasible. of the underlying geology, ongoing climate change, substrates and soils, and disturbances created by fire, Vegetation Communities floods, landslides, blowdowns, insect infestations, There are several vegetation communities in and the arrival of nonnative plants. Yellowstone: higher- and lower-elevation forests Today, the roughly 1,386 native taxa in the park and the understory vegetation associated with them, represent the species able to either persist in the area sagebrush-steppe, wetlands, and hydrothermal. or recolonize after glaciers, lava flows, and other Quick Facts Number in Yellowstone • Three endemic species (found only Management Issues Native plant taxa: more than 1,300: in Yellowstone): Ross’s bentgrass, • Controlling nonnative species, • Hundreds of wildfowers. Yellowstone sand verbena, which threaten native species, Yellowstone sulfur wild buckwheat. especially near developed areas; • Trees: nine conifers (lodgepole some are spreading into the Nonnative plant species: 225. pine, whitebark pine, Engelmann backcountry. spruce, white spruce, subalpine Characteristics • fr, Douglas-fr, Rocky Mountain • Vegetation in Yellowstone is typical Park partners are monitoring juniper, common juniper, limber of the Rocky Mountains. whitebark pine and forest insect pine) and some deciduous species, pests. • Elements of the Great Plains and • including quaking aspen and Great Basin foras mix with Rocky Biologists survey areas for sensitive cottonwood. Mountain vegetation in the vicinity or rare vegetation before a • Shrubs: include common juniper, of Gardiner and Stephen’s Creek. disturbance such as constructing a sagebrush (many species), Rocky new facility. • Hydrothermal areas support • Mountain maple. unique plant communities and rare Park managers are restoring areas species. of disturbance. Vegetation 151 Vegetation Communities in Yellowstone National Park VEGETATION □ Lodgepole pine forests Non-forest Dominate more than 80% of the total forested area. Includes grasslands, sagebrush, alpine meadows, talus, Can be seral (developing) or climax. and hydrothermal environments. Climax forests underlain by rhyolite. Encompasses the moisture spectrum from dry □ Spruce-fr forests sagebrush shrublands to wet alpine meadows. Engelmann spruce/subalpine fr dominate older forests. Provides the winter and summer forage base for Usually found on moist and/or fertile substrates. ungulates. Climax forests underlain by andesitic soils. □ Whitebark pine forests Other communities not shown on map Major overstory component above 8,400 feet. Aspen—found in small clones interspersed among the Major understory component of lodgepole-dominated sagebrush/forest ecotone (transition zone) along the forests from 7,000 to 8,400 feet. Yellowstone, Madison, and Snake river drainages. Seeds are ecologically important food for a variety of Wetland—Wetlands include wet meadows, forested wildlife species. wetlands, springs, and seeps comprised of woody □ Douglas-fr forests vegetation, forbs, rushes, sedges, and grasses. Some Associated with the Lamar, Yellowstone, and Madison are thermally infuenced. river drainages below 7,600 feet. Riparian—typically streamside vegetation includes Often fewer than 20 inches annual precipitation. cottonwoods, willows, and various deciduous shrubs. More frequent historic fre interval (25–60 year) than other forest communities in the park. 152 Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2020 Kershaw et al. 1998. Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Lone More Information Pine Publishing. Craighead, J.J. et al. 1963. A Field Guide to Rocky Mountain Preston, R.J. 1968. Rocky Mountain Trees: A Handbook of Wildflowers from Northern Arizona and New Mexico to the Native Species with Plates and Distribution Maps. British Colombia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. New York: Dover. Cronquist et al. (ongoing, currently 6 volumes) Romme, W.H. and D.H. Knight. 1982. Landscape diversity: Intermountain Flora. New York Botanical Garden. The concept applied to Yellowstone National Park. VEGETATION Despain, D. 1990. Yellowstone Vegetation: Consequences of Bioscience. 32:8. Environment and History in a Natural Setting. Boulder: Shaw, R.J. 1964. Trees and Flowering Shrubs of Yellowstone Roberts Rinehart. and Grand Teton national parks. Salt Lake City: Dorn, B. 2001. Vascular Plants of Wyoming. 3rd edition. Wheelwright Press. Elliot, C.R. and M.M. Hektner. 2000. Wetland Resources of Shaw, R.J. 1992. Wildflowers of Yellowstone and Grand Yellowstone National Park. YNP: Wyoming. Out of print, Teton national parks. Salt Lake City: Wheelwright Press. available at www.nps.gov/yell Hitchcock and Cronquist. 1974. Flora of the Pacific Staff Reviewers Northwest. Seattle: UWashington Press. Stefanie Waker, Vegetation Ecologist Hitchcock et al. Vascular Plants of the Northwest (5 vol- Heidi Anderson, Botanist and Wetland Ecologist umes). Seattle: UWashington Press. Vegetation 153 VEGETATION Douglas-fr forests occur at lower elevations and are associated with the Lamar, Yellowstone, and Madison river drainages in Yellowstone National Park. Forests fire, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir were able to Forests cover roughly 80% of the park. Lodgepole dominate and thrive. In forests dominated by lodge- pine, Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, whitebark pole pine, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir can be pine, and limber pine are found at higher elevations. a common a forest understory component. Though ubiquitous throughout the park, Douglas- Lodgepole is dominant on rhyolitic soils which fir is particularly abundant in the northern region. are poor in nutrients essential for fir and spruce. At Their thick bark enable them to tolerate low-intensity higher elevations such as the Absaroka Mountains fire. Some of the trees in these forests are estimated and the Washburn Range, whitebark pine is a signifi- to be several hundred years old and display fire scars cant forest component. In the upper subalpine zone, from a past history of low-intensity ground fires. In whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir contrast, lodgepole pine trees have very thin bark often co-occur in island stands of timber separated which makes this species more susceptible to mortal- by subalpine meadows. In treeline environments ity from ground fires. where conditions are extreme, whitebark pine take In high elevation areas where andesite, a type of on a stunted growth form known as krumholtz where volcanic rock, is prevalent, older forests are domi- most of the “tree” is protected below the snow from nated by Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. In the winter’s wind and dessicating effects. past, these current spruce/fir forests may have been dominated by lodgepole pine but in the absence of Common Conifers Higher-Elevation Species Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) Lower-Elevation Species Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) • Only true fr in the park Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) • Most common tree in park, 80% • Blunt, fat needles • Resembles the fr and the of canopy hemlock, hence its generic name • Cones grow upright, disintegrate Pseudotsuga, which means “false • Needles in groups of twos on tree hemlock” • Up to 75 feet tall • Up to 100 feet tall • Cones hang down and remain Engelmann Spruce (Picea Limber Pine (Pinus fexilis) intact, with three-pronged bract engelmannii) • Needles in groups of fve between scales • Often along creeks, or around wet • Young branches are fexible • Up to 100 feet tall areas • Up to 75 feet tall • Sharp, square needles grow singly Rocky Mountain Juniper • Often on calcium-rich soil (Juniperus scopulorum) • Cones hang down and remain • Needles scale-like intact, with no bract between Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) • Cones are small and feshy scales • Grows above 7,000 feet • Up to 30 feet tall • Up to 100 feet tall • Needles in groups of fve • Up to 75 feet tall 154 Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2020 Lodgepole Pine The lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is by far the most common tree in Yellowstone. Early botanical ex- plorers first encountered the species along the West Coast where its wind-contorted growth form earned VEGETATION it the name Pinus contorta. The Rocky Mountain va- riety, which grows very straight, is Pinus contorta var. latifolia. Some American Indian tribes used this tree to make the frames of their tipis or lodges, hence the name “lodgepole” pine. Description Lodgepoles are the only pine in Yellowstone whose Lodgepole pine forests are the most common in Yellowstone. A lodgepole’s serotinous cones need to needles grow in groups of two. The bark is typically be exposed to the high heat of a forest fre for the somewhat brown to yellowish, but a grayish-black seeds to be released. Cones that do not disperse
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