Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Lodgepole Pine / Dwarf Bilberry / Bride''s Bonnet Forest

Colloquial Name: No Data Available

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This lodgepole pine forest association is a minor small- to large-patch type reported from northwestern Montana and southwestern Canadian Rockies, (it is not reported for northern Idaho), and is a minor type on the Colville and Okanogan national forests of northeastern and north-central Washington. In Montana its elevation range is documented to be 945 to 1650 m (3100-5400 feet); in northeastern Washington it occurs from 610 to 1525 m (2000-5000 feet). In Montana it is described from basins and river terraces and benchlands often having restricted drainages. In Washington it occurs predominantly on xero-riparian sites located in valley bottoms. The commonality of these environments is their potential to be frost pockets or at least areas where cold air ponds; daytime temperatures are contrastingly warm. Parent materials include volcanic ash deposited over glacial drift, coarse alluvium or fine alluvium over, or with, an appreciable gravel content, glacial till. Upper soil profiles are well- to excessively drained, but the compacted subsoils promote seasonally high water tables. The upper canopy generally has an open structure, dominated by Pinus contorta with well-scattered Pseudotsuga menziesii and Larix occidentalis. The subcanopy usually has low cover and is a mix of Abies lasiocarpa, Picea engelmannii, and occasionally Abies grandis. A tall-shrub component is conspicuously absent. The short-shrub component has a minor representation with Vaccinium membranaceum, Spiraea betulifolia, Lonicera utahensis, Paxistima myrsinites, Amelanchier alnifolia, Shepherdia canadensis, and Juniperus communis consistently present and the first-named often having cover in excess of 10%. The dwarf-shrub layer is the dominant component and, within it the appreciable cover (at least 3%) of Vaccinium cespitosum, is strongly indicative of a frosty microclimate and perhaps well-drained substrates. Other high-constancy (and variable cover) dwarf-shrubs include Linnaea borealis, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Mahonia repens, and Chimaphila umbellata. Calamagrostis rubescens and Carex concinnoides have very high constancy, and Calamagrostis cover is generally in excess of 10%, even capable of forming a sward that partially obscures the dwarf-shrub layer. The diverse forb component, in addition to the indicator Clintonia uniflora, regularly contains Hieracium albiflorum, Osmorhiza berteroi, Cornus canadensis, Viola orbiculata, Maianthemum stellatum, Maianthemum racemosum, Arnica latifolia, and Goodyera oblongifolia.

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. 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.). If Cornus canadensis is accorded indicator status (of mesic environments) equivalent to Clintonia uniflora and Tiarella trifoliata, then this type may extend as far north as Banff National Park.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available