Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Lodgepole Pine / Rusty Menziesia / Bride''s Bonnet Forest

Colloquial Name: No Data Available

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This seral, large-patch to matrix lodgepole pine forest occupies the relatively cold and dry environments across a number of climax tree series and associated geographic regions. Thus, this cold mesic type is found throughout the northern Rocky Mountains and may extend as far west as the Cascade Crest on environments characterized as montane to lower and even mid-subalpine. The association''s possible elevation range is from 915 to 1800 m (3000-5700 feet), and it consistently occurs on cool northwest- through east-facing slopes with moderate to extreme degrees of slope. It is generally associated with collecting positions from midslope to toeslope and foot-slopes when it occurs in subalpine zones, but in the more mesic montane zones, it can be found on all positions. The range of parent materials is literally as great as possible types occurring in the northern Rocky Mountains and northernmost middle Rocky Mountains and may include some ultramafics east of the Cascade Crest. The soils are acidic to very acidic, uniformly moderately well-drained to well-drained and have a highly variable coarse-fragment content. Ground surfaces have virtually no exposed rock or bare soil, and duff accumulations vary from moderate to deep. The overstory canopy is often on the cusp between open and closed (defined as 60%) and decidedly dominated by Pinus contorta, but its cover is often less than 40%. A number of other conifers may be present; on warmer sites these include Thuja plicata, Tsuga heterophylla, and Abies grandis, and on colder or higher elevation sites are found Abies lasiocarpa, Tsuga mertensiana, and Picea engelmannii. However, the most frequent canopy codominants or associates are the seral species Larix occidentalis, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and in a restricted portion of the type''s range Pinus monticola. Menziesia ferruginea conspicuously dominates the tall-shrub layer. Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata and Taxus brevifolia are the only other tall shrubs consistently present. The short-shrub layer exhibits greater diversity with Vaccinium membranaceum, Paxistima myrsinites, Rosa gymnocarpa, Rubus parviflorus, and Spiraea betulifolia being consistently present. Linnaea borealis, Chimaphila umbellata, and Vaccinium scoparium have high constancy in the dwarf-shrub layer. Bromus vulgaris (or Bromus ciliatus) are the only graminoids of note. The diagnostic forbs Clintonia uniflora and Tiarella trifoliata have high constancy (both approaching 100%) and/or cover; however, a number of other forbs also exhibit high constancy across this type''s range, including Arnica latifolia, (Arnica cordifolia at lower elevations), Coptis occidentalis, Cornus canadensis, Galium triflorum, Goodyera oblongifolia, Maianthemum stellatum, Osmorhiza berteroi, Orthilia secunda, Thalictrum occidentale, Trillium ovatum, Viola orbiculata, and Xerophyllum tenax. As with the forb layer, the bryoid layer cover apparently varies inversely with the degree of canopy closure.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: With the comparatively recent emphasis on developing descriptions of (and keys to) existing vegetation (Grossman et al. 1998), it has yet to be determined at what cover value forest vegetation types will be distinguished one from another when the canopy tree species are mostly, or exclusively, seral in nature and have a broad environmental range (broad niche). Pfister et al. (1977) recognized Pinus contorta community types only when no other, more shade-tolerant tree species could be found on site. With Pinus contorta, which is exclusively seral except with respect to some subspecies on unusual substrates or atypical environments, researchers in Glacier National Park took the position that this very shade-intolerant, stand-replacing fire-adapted species should have several times the cover of the next most abundant canopy species for a Pinus contorta type to be recognized. What is really being indicated by this approach are areas having experienced stand-replacing fires (or similar catastrophic disturbance, e.g., clearcutting). Another approach could simply recognize the plurality of cover in assigning stands to particular associations treating existing vegetation. The stands representing this type are climax in a number of different tree series, including Abies lasiocarpa, Abies grandis, Tsuga heterophylla, Tsuga mertensiana, and Thuja plicata. That this association in fact occurs in the states and USFS Sections listed derives from this writer''s interpretation of constancy/cover tables of various authors/publications; where Pinus contorta is listed as a major seral species, the inference has been made that stands quite likely occur on the landscape where this species strongly dominates the upper canopy (often observed throughout northern Idaho and western Montana) (S. Cooper pers. comm.). It should also be noted that this type is probably less common in zones where Thuja plicata, Tsuga heterophylla, and Abies amabilis are the climax dominants. This is because, following disturbance in these zones, the climax trees are quick to reclaim the site, i.e., they comprise a significant cover on the earliest forested successional stages (Pinus contorta may seldom be a major seral component on these sites and thus the association is rare as well), and Pinus contorta is favored by stand-replacing fire which is uncommon in these mesic forests.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available