Seward Wetland Mapping Project

Chugach National Forest Plant Community Descriptions

From: R.L. DeVelice, C.J. Hubbard, K. Boggs, S. Boudreau, M. Potkin, T. Boucher and C. Wertheim.  1999.  Plant Community Types of the Chugach National Forest: southcentral Alaska.  USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest, Alaska Region Technical Publication R10-TP-76.  Anchorage, AK.  375pp. (download 3.5Mb .pdf)

A  Sitka spruce - black cottonwood / common horsetail stand on a Resurrection River terrace.

Vegetation- Picea X lutzii (Lutz spruce) and Populus balsamifera ssp.

trichocarpa (black cottonwood) share overstory dominance in this type.

Equisetum arvense (common horsetail) is abundant and the indicator species

for this type. Calamagrostis canadensis (bluejoint reedgrass) is abundant

and shares dominance in the undergrowth. Fairly consistent tall shrub

components are Viburnum edule (highbush cranberry), Salix barclayi (Barclay

willow), and Rosa acicularis (prickly rose). Low and dwarf shrubs are sparse.

Remaining herbaceous species composition is quite variable, the most

common species including Sanguisorba stipulata (Sitka burnet), Epilobium

angustifolium (tall fireweed), Pyrola secunda (one-sided wintergreen), and

Cornus canadensis (bunchberry).

Physical setting- Lutz spruce-black cottonwood/common horsetail is a minor

type in the Kenai Mountains. It occurs on flood plains, flat lowlands, and

non-disturbed foot slopes. Sites sampled are on northerly aspects on slopes

up to 5 percent and at elevations from 400 to 1200 feet.

Seward Wetland Mapping Project : Contact: Mike Gracz Kenai Watershed Forum  Homer Field Office Old Town Professional Center 3430 Main Street Suite B1 Homer, AK  99603 907-235-2218

03 October 2006 15:21