| Ponderosa Pine Habitats | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Climate Vegetation Characteristics Fire History Wildlife Dominant Land Uses Literature Cited
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Many sources state that ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) woodlands are the largest, most well known forest type of western North America. Ponderosa pine occurs from northern Mexico up into southern Alberta and British Columbia (Fig. 1) and from California to the eastern Dakotas and Nebraska (Wright and Bailey 1982, Peet 1988:80). Throughout its range, ponderosa occurs both as a climax vegetation type and a seral species (Franklin 1988, Peet 1988). However, the best developed climax communities of ponderosa woodlands exist in the Southwest (Peet 1988).
Figure 1. Distribution of ponderosa pine in the United States and Canada. (Modified from Kuchler 1964. Reproduced with permission of the American Geographical Society.) (From Wright and Bailey 1982)
Elevation The elevations at which ponderosa pine occurs vary greatly according to geographical region. Fowells (1965) reports that the best developed stands are found on benches, plateaus, and west and south aspects at elevations of 1220 to 2440 m (4000 to 8000 ft). Elevations for ponderosa pine zones throughout its range are provided in Table 1.
Table 1. Elevations for different ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) zones in North America.
Soils Ponderosa pine grows on a variety of soil types. Walker (1999) stresses that ponderosa "endures on xeric volcanic mantles where others cannot persist." Soils are primarily composed of Entisols, but also include some Enceptisols and Mollisols (Holechek et al. 1998). Although ponderosa grows best on loam soils and moderately sandy or gravelly soils, soil textures vary from sands to clay loams and occasionally to clays (Wright and Bailey 1982).
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