This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. USDA United States Department of Agriculture Plant Community Classification Forest Service for Alpine Vegetation on the Intermountain Research Station Beaverhead National Forest, General Technical Report INT-GTR-362 Montana October 1997 Stephen V. Cooper Peter Lesica Deborah Page-Dumroese The Authors Laboratory in Moscow, ID. She is primarily interested in soil changes from timber harvesting and site preparation Stephen V. Cooper is a Vegetation Ecologist with the and in maintaining long-term soil productivity in the Montana Natural Heritage Program in Helena. He has Inland Northwest. She earned a B.S. degree in natural authored several vegetation classifications pertaining resource management, an M.S. degree in forest soils, to Northern Rocky Mountain ecosystems and is now and a Ph.D. degree in forest soils. responsible for inventorying and cataloguing the full range of Montana's natural community types. He earned a B.S. degree in biology at Union College, NY, an M.S. Acknowledgments degree in biology at the State University of New York, and a Ph.D. degree in botany at Washington State Many employees of Beaverhead National Forest, University. including Dan Svoboda, Marianne Klein and Kevin Suzuki, provided information on study sites and ac- Peter Lesica is a Senior Scientist with Conservation cess. Bob Keane, Suzanne Reed, John Carotti, and Biology Research in Missoula, MT, and an adjunct Tim McGawey helped with data manipulation. Jim faculty at the University of Montana. He is the author of Sears identified many of our geological specimens. numerous articles on the flora of Montana and high- John Spence and Doug Henderson commented on an elevation plant ecology, and is currently working on a earlier draft of the manuscript. We dedicate this publi- floristic manual for Glacier National Park. cation to the memory of Doug Henderson, who helped Deborah Page-Dumroese is a Soil Scientist with the many of us in our botanical explorations of the Northern Intermountain Research Station's Forestry Sciences Rocky Mountains. You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label form through one of the following media. Please specify the publication title and General Technical Report number. Telephone (801 ) 625-5437 DG message Pubs:S22A FAX (801) 625-5129, Attn: Publications E-mail /s=pubs/[email protected] Mailing Address Publications--0gden Service Center Rocky Mountain Research Station (formerly lntermountain Research Station) 324 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401 Rocky Mountain Research Station (formerly Intermountain Research Station) 324 25th Street Ogden, UT 84401 Contents Page Page Introduction ................................................................ 1 Moist Slopes .........................................................24 Study Area ................................................................. 1 Snowbed Communities. ............................................ 25 Vegetation ............................................................... 1 Carex nlgrrcans c .t ................................................25 Climate ....................................................................2 Juncus drummondii7Antennaria lanata c.t. ............26 Geology and Soils ...................................................3 Phyllodoce empetriformislAntennaria Methods and Discussion ............................................ 5 lanata c .t ...........................................................-27 Stand Selection ....................................................... 5 Cassiope mertensianalCarex paysonis c.t. ..........27 Vegetation Sampling ...............................................5 Juncus parryilErigeron ursinus c.t. .......................28 Taxonomic. Considerations ..................................... 6 Salix glauca c.t. ....................................................-28 Product~v~ty............................................................. 6 Wetland Communities ..............................................29 Soils ........................................................................ 6 Deschampsia cespitosalCaltha Data Analysis .......................................................... 6 leptosepala c .t ..................................................2 Results .................................................................... 7 Carex scopulorumlCaltha leptosepala c .t ............. 30 Key to Alpine Communities ........................................ 7 Salix reticulatalCaltha leptosepala c.t. ..................30 Caveats and Conventions ....................................... 7 Salix planifolialCarex scopulorum c.t. ...................31 Canopy Cover Terms and Their Ordinations and Environmental Gradients ............... 32 Complements Employed in the Key ....................7 Wet Sites .............................................................. 32 Instructions ............................................................. 7 Dry Sites ............................................................... 33 Key to Community Types ........................................ 8 Soils ....................................................................... 34 Grassland Communities ........................................... 11 Management Considerations ...................................35 Festuca idahoensislPotentilla diversifolia c.t. ....... 1 1 Livestock Grazing ................................................. 36 Deschampsia cespitosal Vehicle Use .......................................................... 36 Potentilla diversifolia c.t. .................................... 12 Mining ................................................................... 37 Hesperochloa kingiilOxytropis campestris c.t. ...... 13 Geographic Affinities of Alpine Plant Turf Communities .....................................................13 Communities .................................................... 37 . Carex elynoides c.t. .............................................. 13 References ...............................................................38 Carex scirpoideal Po ten tilla diversifolia c .t ............1 4 Appendix A-Vascular Plant Species Carex scirpoidealGeum rossii c .t .......................... 15 Encountered in Macroplots During the Dryas octopetalalPolygonum viviparum c.t. .......... 1 6 Course of the Study in 1989 and 1991 .............. 40 Salix arctical Polygonum biston'oides c.t. .............. 16 Appendix &-Mean Site Variables (fSD) Cushion Plant Communities ..................................... 17 for 23 Plant Community Types in the Carex rupestrislPotentilla ovina c.t. ......................17 Study Area .........................................................44 Geum rossiilArenaria obtusiloba c.t. ..................... 22 Appendix C-Vascular Plant Constancy Dryas octopetalalCarex rupestris c.t. .................... 23 and Coverage (Mean and Range ) by Slope Communities ..................................................23 Community Type ............................................... 46 Dry Slopes ............................................................ 24 Plant Community Classification for Alpine Vegetation on the Beaverhead National Forest, Montana Stephen V. Cooper Peter Lesica Deborah Page-Dumroese Introduction 3. Compare the alpine vegetation communities on the Beaverhead National Forest to those described Much of what is generally considered the Northern from other areas of Western North America. Rocky Mountains floristic province is in Montana 4. Consider management implications for alpine (McLaughlin 1989). Numerous mountain ranges vegetation systems. occur in the western half of the State, many reaching elevations above treeline. The vegetation of grass- lands, shrublands, forests, woodlands, and riparian Study Area areas of western Montana have been described and Vegetation classified (Hansen and others 1995; Mueggler and Stewart 1980; Pfister and others 1977). However, due Our study area encompassed eight alpine mountain to inaccessibility and relatively low economic impor- ranges that occur, at least in part, on the Beaverhead tance, few studies have described the alpine vege- National Forest: Anaconda (color plate l), Beaverhead, tation of the Northern Rocky Mountains. Existing Gravelly, Madison, Pioneer, Snowcrest, Teadoy, and studies include Glacier National Park (Bamberg Tobacco Root (fig. la,b). The sampled portions of and Major 1968; Choatc and Habeck 19671, the Big these ranges are all east of the Continental Divide. Snowy Mountains and Flint Creek Mountains The area is semiarid, and both upper and lower tree- (Bamberg and Major 1968),and the Beartooth Plateau lines occur in all ranges. Intermountain valleys are (Johnson and Billings 1962); these studies were con- high (4,800 to 6,600 ft), and the cold, frost-prone ducted at fewer than a half-dozen sites, Recently, climate is unsuitable for the establishment of tree studies have bccn completed for alpine areas of east species that are not cold-adapted. Thus, Pseudotsuga and east-central Idaho (Brunsfeld 1981; Caicco 1983; menziesii and Pinus flexilis, not Pinusponderosa, are Henderson 1992; Moseley 1985; Urbanczyk and climax dominants oflower treeline and extend through Henderson 1994). the montane to the middle of the subalpine zone. Twenty-seven mountain ranges in Montana support Pinus flexilis extends onto sites drier and warmer