Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Ecological site R021XY424OR
JUNIPER LAVALANDS 8-11 PZ
Accessed: 11/23/2024
General information
Provisional. A provisional ecological site description has undergone quality control and quality assurance review. It contains a working state and transition model and enough information to identify the ecological site.
Figure 1. Mapped extent
Areas shown in blue indicate the maximum mapped extent of this ecological site. Other ecological sites likely occur within the highlighted areas. It is also possible for this ecological site to occur outside of highlighted areas if detailed soil survey has not been completed or recently updated.
Table 1. Dominant plant species
| Tree |
Not specified |
|---|---|
| Shrub |
Not specified |
| Herbaceous |
Not specified |
Physiographic features
Table 2. Representative physiographic features
| Landforms |
(1)
Lava plain
|
|---|---|
| Flooding frequency | None |
| Ponding frequency | None |
| Elevation | 1,219 – 1,402 m |
| Slope | 0 – 50% |
| Aspect | Aspect is not a significant factor |
Climatic features
Summer thunderstorms and summer frosts may occur.
Table 3. Representative climatic features
| Frost-free period (average) | 60 days |
|---|---|
| Freeze-free period (average) | 90 days |
| Precipitation total (average) | 254 mm |
Figure 2. Monthly average minimum and maximum temperature
Influencing water features
Soil features
Ecological dynamics
Juniper and curleaf mountian mahogany dominate the overstory as an open stand which is quite variable depending on soil and rock content.
Severe crown fires remove the overstory. Recovery after such fires can be very slow. Sites with more lava flow material are more likely to have limited burming of the overstory - lightning strikes may only affect individual trees. The post fire state is treeless, with rabbitbrush and bunchgrasses, a weedy forb/cheatgrass mix, and scatterred remnant shrubs.
State and transition model
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Ecosystem states
State 1 submodel, plant communities
State 1
HCPC, FEID-PSSP6/ARTRV-CELE3/JUOC
Community 1.1
HCPC, FEID-PSSP6/ARTRV-CELE3/JUOC
Juniper and curleaf mountian mahogany dominate the overstory as an open stand. A mix of low shrubs is common including bitterbrush, wax currant, mountain big sagebrush, and gray rabbitbrush. Desertsweet may also be present in minor amounts. Idaho fescue and bluebunch wheatgrass are codominant but are not high in ground cover because of limited area for plant establishment. A variety of other grasses present may include western needlegrass, Thurber needlegrass, bottlebrush squirreltail, Sandberg bluegrass and Ross sedge (grass like). Forbs are minor in the stand but include a variety of species such as penstemon, buttercup, violet, phacelia, tall potentilla, death camas, canactus tidy tips and parsley.
Figure 3. Annual production by plant type (representative values) or group (midpoint values)
Table 4. Annual production by plant type
| Plant type | Low (kg/hectare) |
Representative value (kg/hectare) |
High (kg/hectare) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grass/Grasslike | 2347 | 392 | 455 |
| Shrub/Vine | 188 | 310 | 432 |
| Tree | 47 | 71 | 94 |
| Forb | 8 | 24 | 39 |
| Total | 2590 | 797 | 1020 |
Figure 4. Plant community growth curve (percent production by month). OR5621, D21 Juniper Sites 8-16. D21 Juniper Sites 8-16 pz RPC Growth Curve.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Additional community tables
Table 5. Community 1.1 plant community composition
| Group | Common name | Symbol | Scientific name | Annual production (kg/hectare) | Foliar cover (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Grass/Grasslike
|
||||||
| 1 | Dominant deep rooted perennial grasses | 314–392 | ||||
| Idaho fescue | FEID | Festuca idahoensis | 157–196 | – | ||
| bluebunch wheatgrass | PSSP6 | Pseudoroegneria spicata | 157–196 | – | ||
| 5 | Other perennial grasses | 16–63 | ||||
| western needlegrass | ACOC3 | Achnatherum occidentale | 0–6 | – | ||
| Thurber's needlegrass | ACTH7 | Achnatherum thurberianum | 0–6 | – | ||
| Ross' sedge | CARO5 | Carex rossii | 0–6 | – | ||
| squirreltail | ELEL5 | Elymus elymoides | 0–6 | – | ||
| prairie Junegrass | KOMA | Koeleria macrantha | 0–6 | – | ||
| Sandberg bluegrass | POSE | Poa secunda | 0–6 | – | ||
|
Forb
|
||||||
| 9 | Other perennial forbs | 8–39 | ||||
| grapefern | BOTRY | Botrychium | 0–6 | – | ||
| pincushion | CHAEN | Chaenactis | 0–6 | – | ||
| tidytips | LAYIA | Layia | 0–6 | – | ||
| desertparsley | LOMAT | Lomatium | 0–6 | – | ||
| beardtongue | PENST | Penstemon | 0–6 | – | ||
| phacelia | PHACE | Phacelia | 0–6 | – | ||
| cinquefoil | POTEN | Potentilla | 0–6 | – | ||
| buttercup | RANUN | Ranunculus | 0–6 | – | ||
| violet | VIOLA | Viola | 0–6 | – | ||
| deathcamas | ZIGAD | Zigadenus | 0–6 | – | ||
|
Shrub/Vine
|
||||||
| 11 | Dominant evergreen shrubs | 118–196 | ||||
| mountain big sagebrush | ARTRV | Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana | 118–196 | – | ||
| 13 | Dominant deciduous (or 1/2 shrubs) shrubs | 55–157 | ||||
| curl-leaf mountain mahogany | CELE3 | Cercocarpus ledifolius | 39–78 | – | ||
| antelope bitterbrush | PUTR2 | Purshia tridentata | 16–78 | – | ||
| 15 | Other shrubs | 16–78 | ||||
| basin big sagebrush | ARTRT | Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata | 0–6 | – | ||
| desert sweet | CHMI2 | Chamaebatiaria millefolium | 0–6 | – | ||
| rubber rabbitbrush | ERNA10 | Ericameria nauseosa | 0–6 | – | ||
| chokecherry | PRVI | Prunus virginiana | 0–6 | – | ||
| wax currant | RICE | Ribes cereum | 0–6 | – | ||
| elderberry | SAMBU | Sambucus | 0–6 | – | ||
|
Tree
|
||||||
| 16 | Dominant evergreen trees | 39–78 | ||||
| western juniper | JUOC | Juniperus occidentalis | 39–78 | – | ||
| 17 | Sub-dominant evergreen trees | 8–16 | ||||
| ponderosa pine | PIPO | Pinus ponderosa | 8–16 | – | ||
Interpretations
Supporting information
Type locality
| Location 1: Lake County, OR | |
|---|---|
| General legal description | North edge of Fort Rock Valley (south of Devils Garden and adjacent to Cougar mtn.) |
Contributors
Hickman
Kennedy, Repp
Rangeland health reference sheet
Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health is a qualitative assessment protocol used to determine ecosystem condition based on benchmark characteristics described in the Reference Sheet. A suite of 17 (or more) indicators are typically considered in an assessment. The ecological site(s) representative of an assessment location must be known prior to applying the protocol and must be verified based on soils and climate. Current plant community cannot be used to identify the ecological site.
| Author(s)/participant(s) | |
|---|---|
| Contact for lead author | |
| Date | |
| Approved by | |
| Approval date | |
| Composition (Indicators 10 and 12) based on | Annual Production |
Indicators
-
Number and extent of rills:
-
Presence of water flow patterns:
-
Number and height of erosional pedestals or terracettes:
-
Bare ground from Ecological Site Description or other studies (rock, litter, lichen, moss, plant canopy are not bare ground):
-
Number of gullies and erosion associated with gullies:
-
Extent of wind scoured, blowouts and/or depositional areas:
-
Amount of litter movement (describe size and distance expected to travel):
-
Soil surface (top few mm) resistance to erosion (stability values are averages - most sites will show a range of values):
-
Soil surface structure and SOM content (include type of structure and A-horizon color and thickness):
-
Effect of community phase composition (relative proportion of different functional groups) and spatial distribution on infiltration and runoff:
-
Presence and thickness of compaction layer (usually none; describe soil profile features which may be mistaken for compaction on this site):
-
Functional/Structural Groups (list in order of descending dominance by above-ground annual-production or live foliar cover using symbols: >>, >, = to indicate much greater than, greater than, and equal to):
Dominant:
Sub-dominant:
Other:
Additional:
-
Amount of plant mortality and decadence (include which functional groups are expected to show mortality or decadence):
-
Average percent litter cover (%) and depth ( in):
-
Expected annual annual-production (this is TOTAL above-ground annual-production, not just forage annual-production):
-
Potential invasive (including noxious) species (native and non-native). List species which BOTH characterize degraded states and have the potential to become a dominant or co-dominant species on the ecological site if their future establishment and growth is not actively controlled by management interventions. Species that become dominant for only one to several years (e.g., short-term response to drought or wildfire) are not invasive plants. Note that unlike other indicators, we are describing what is NOT expected in the reference state for the ecological site:
-
Perennial plant reproductive capability:
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