Environmental Description:  These are semi-riparian or seep slope forests in upper montane and subalpine areas of the northern and central Rocky Mountains. Annual precipitation generally exceeds 75 cm in these forests in the Northern Rockies, snowpacks are typically deep and late-lying, and summers are cool. Summer frosts are characteristic in these habitats, due to cold-air drainage. Elevations range from 1525-2290 m in the northern Rocky Mountains, and from 2500-3480 m in Colorado and New Mexico. These forests occur in landscape positions where snowmelt moisture creates shallow water tables or seeps for a portion of the growing season. Sites include lower and middle slopes, stream terraces, benches, narrow valleys, or seep slopes. Slope aspects vary, but are often northerly, and can be flat to moderately steep (up to 55%). When these forests occur along streams, they are usually within 5 m of the stream channel and within 2 m of channel bankfull height (Kittel et al. 1999a). Soils often show evidence of podzolization processes and gleying due to seasonally saturated conditions. They often have high organic matter content throughout the profile. These forests are a specialized type within the Abies - Picea matrix type in subalpine areas of the Rocky Mountains, but may extend into montane habitats due to cold-air drainage and cool, moist microhabitats. Adjacent upland forests include Picea engelmannii or Abies lasiocarpa forests at the upper elevation boundary and Pseudotsuga menziesii, Abies grandis, or Tsuga heterophylla - Thuja plicata forests at lower elevations. Wetter sites often support herbaceous, cold-deciduous, or ericaceous riparian plant communities, or Abies lasiocarpa seasonally flooded forest communities.