Lutz spruce / Barclay's willow / Field horsetail
	Picea X lutzii / Salix barclayi / Equisetum arvense
	n = 9
	I.2.A.  Open Needleleaf Forest
	Ecosystem: Discharge Slope, Riparian

This is a previously undescribed plant community.  Lutz spruce (Picea X lutzii) types are poorly documented in Alaska.  Previously described Sitka and white spruce (Picea sitchensis and P. glauca) types can be similar, however, Barclay's willow (Salix barclayi) forested types are not described in the literature.  DeVelice et. al. (1999) working on Chugach National Forest, adjacent to the Kenai lowlands, have listed one “undersampled” Lutz spruce - Barclay's willow type.  Additionally, they describe a Lutz spruce / bluejoint (Calamagrostis canadensis) type that has significant, but low abundance components of Barclay's willow and field horsetail (Equisetum arvense).

This community is widespread, and common on the Kenai Peninsula lowlands.  It is found primarily on footslopes, usually along drainage margins, but also at the edges of poor fens at high elevation (above 350 m (1100 feet)).  On these slopes groundwater discharge, or a dense till supports a water table near the surface. 

An open to woodland, medium to tall-stature spruce forest, now largely killed by spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis), tops a moderately open Barclay's willow shrub layer.  Field horsetail, or occasionally woodland horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), dominates an interrupted and diverse herb layer.  Dwarf birch (Betula nana) and the ericaceous shrubs crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) and lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) are present in low abundance, as are the forbs Canadian burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) and fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium).  Bluejoint grass is sometimes abundant.  

Organic layers are always less than 20 cm thick, and the water table, or evidence of it, is usually less than 30 cm below the surface.  This type does not always indicate a wetland; although six of the nine sample plots meet jurisdictional wetland criteria.

Table 1. Frequency of occurrence and hydric status of soil series named at NRCS holes.  Bold type indicates soils on the NRCS Alaska hydric soils list. 

Table 2.  Summary of plant frequency and average cover for plants occurring in more than 50% of plots.

Introduction and Key to Plant Communities   Introduction and Key to Ecosystems     Kenai Hydric Soils    Map Unit Summary    Methods    Glossary