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Ecological site F029XY130NV

POTR5 WSG 1A1701
16 to 20

Accessed: 09/22/2026

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General information

Draft. A draft ecological site description is either incomplete or has not undergone quality control and quality assurance review.

Table 1. Dominant plant species

Tree	(1) Populus tremuloides
Shrub	(1) Symphoricarpos oreophilus
Herbaceous	(1) Elymus trachycaulus

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Physiographic features

This Forest site occurs on cool, moist, smooth to concave mountain sideslopes of mostly northerly exposures. Slope ranges from 4 to 75 percent, but typically is between 4 to 30 percent. Elevations range from 6000 to 9500.

Table 2. Representative physiographic features

Landforms	(1) Mountain slope
Flooding duration	Very brief (4 to 48 hours)
Flooding frequency	None to occasional
Elevation	6000 – 9500 ft
Slope	4 – 75 %
Water table depth	32 – 60 in
Aspect	Aspect is not a significant factor

Climatic features

The climate associated with this site is semiarid, characterized by cold, moist winters and cool, dry summers. Average annual precipitation is 16 or more than 20 inches. Mean annual temperature is 42 to 46 degrees F. The average frost free period is 50 to 90 days. There is no climate station associated with this site.

Table 3 Representative climatic features

Frost-free period (average)	90 days
Freeze-free period (average)	0 days
Precipitation total (average)	20 in

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Figure 1. Monthly precipitation range

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Figure 2. Monthly average minimum and maximum temperature

Soil features

The soils associated with this site are very deep and well drained to somewhat poorly drained. These soils have a thick, dark, medium-textured surface layer. The underlying material is typically medium to moderately fine textured and is slightly acid to neutral. Available water capacity is low to moderate. Some soils have cobbles or boulders on the surface and/or are skeletal with from 35 to 50 percent gravels and cobbles, by volume, distributed through the soil profile. This site provides a cool, moist environment for plant growth because of the high elevations and northerly exposures where it occurs. Soil temperatures and evapo-transpiration potentials are limited during the growing season due to reduced insolation. Heavy snow accumulation on this site persists late into spring or early summer when the soil is not frozen. Snow, slowly melting during this period, is added to the soil moisture supply and is available to plants during the growing season. Runoff is low to high. Soil series associated with this site include: Cablab and Hackwood.

Table 4. Representative soil features

Surface texture	(1) Silt loam
Family particle size	(1) Loamy
Drainage class	Somewhat poorly drained to well drained
Permeability class	Moderate to moderately rapid
Soil depth	72 – 84 in
Surface fragment cover <=3"	Not specified
Surface fragment cover >3"	0 – 30 %
Available water capacity (0-40in)	4.2 – 6.6 in
Calcium carbonate equivalent (0-40in)	0 – 30 %
Electrical conductivity (0-40in)	Not specified
Sodium adsorption ratio (0-40in)	Not specified
Soil reaction (1:1 water) (0-40in)	6.1 – 7.3
Subsurface fragment volume <=3" (Depth not specified)	13 – 36 %
Subsurface fragment volume >3" (Depth not specified)	Not specified

Ecological dynamics

Major Successional Stages of Forestland Development:

HERBACEOUS: Vegetation is dominated by grasses and forbs under full sunlight. This stage is experienced after a major disturbance such as fire, root-rot, insect damage, or tree harvest. Following a major disturbance, the root system gives rise to many root suckers, assuming the root system is intact and healthy. Residual trees left following harvest have little or no affect on the composition and production of the herbaceous vegetation.

SHRUB-HERBACEOUS: Herbaceous vegetation dominates the site. Quaking aspen suckers are evident. If the aspen stand is healthy, these first two stages will only last from one to two years. However, if competing brush and herbaceous plants grow for a full season before aspen suckers emerge, a reduction in growth and survival of aspen suckers may occur.

SAPLING: Early growth of quaking aspen suckers ranges from less than 1 foot to more than 3 feet per year for shoots having good competitive position. In the absence of disturbance, suckers develop into saplings (to 4.5 feet in height) with a range in canopy cover of about 5 to 15 percent. Vegetation consists of grasses, forbs and a few shrubs in association with tree saplings.

POLE STAGE: As the canopy closes, trees stratify into crown classes quickly despite genetic uniformity within clones. Aspen stands are self-thinning, especially at young ages. This stage is characterized by rapid growth of the aspen trees, both in height and canopy. The visual aspect and vegetal structure are dominated by aspen ranging from about 10 to 20 feet in height, and having a diameter at breast height (DBH) of about 2 to 4 inches. Understory vegetation is moderately influenced by a tree canopy of about 15 to over 25 percent.

IMMATURE FOREST: Growth of the aspen slows somewhat during this stage. There is a fairly continual adjustment of trees to growing space, and a loss in competitive position of many trees making up the codominant, intermediate and over-topped classes. When competition becomes intense enough to appreciably affect the diameter growth of dominants, mortality quickly reduces the number of trees in the lower crown classes. There are periodic surges in mortality, with a disproportionate number of trees, mostly those over-topped, dying within a short time. The visual aspect and vegetal structure are dominated by quaking aspen greater than 35 feet in height and having a diameter at breast height (DBH) of about 5 to 8 inches. Understory vegetation is moderately influenced by a tree overstory canopy of about 20 to 30 percent.

MATURE FOREST: The visual aspect and vegetal structure are dominated by single-story quaking aspen that have reached, or are near, maximal heights for the site. Growth of aspen continues during this stage. Diameter growth shows recovery with the release of competition previously endured during the immature woodland stage. Tree heights range from 40 to over 60 feet with stem diameter at breast height (DBH) of 8 to over 12 inches, depending upon site and clone genotype. Trees have developed tall, straight, clear stems with short, narrow, dome-like crowns. Tree canopy cover ranges from about 30 to 40 percent. Understory vegetation is strongly influenced by tree competition, overstory shading, and duff accumulation. Shade tolerant shrubs form an open, intermittent layer in the understory. Tall perennial grasses and forbs typically form a continuous layer beneath a tree and tall shrub canopy. A lower stratum of small forbs and grasses is always part of the forest floor. Few vegetative shoots and/or saplings of quaking aspen occur in the understory.

OVER-MATURE FOREST: This stage is dominated by aspen that have reached maximal heights for the site. In the absence of natural disturbances, the tree canopy on this site can become very dense-often greater than 50 percent. As less light penetrates below the tree canopy, competitive relationships in the understory vegetation are altered. Although plants in the understory are shade tolerant, even these species progressively decrease in abundance and productivity as tree canopy cover increases. Over-mature aspen stands slowly die. As openings in the overstory are created through tree mortality, aspen suckers emerge on the forest floor. These suckers typically arise over a period of several years and the resulting stand is broadly even-aged. As even-aged stands reach old age without disturbance, stand deterioration is likely to extend over a long period due to the range of tree ages. In turn, a longer regeneration period and a new stand with an even greater range of ages results. If this process continues over several generations, an all-aged stand is established.

Fire Ecology
The most important agent of disturbance in aspen forests before 1900 was fire, although other natural disturbances were locally important including windthrow, snow damage, hail, lightning, fungal diseases and insect damage. Most aspen forests in the West are seral and have been dependent upon fire for their perpetuation. If fire occurs at infrequent intervals (e.g. 50-150 years) and is intense enough to kill most of the aspen and competing conifers, then most aspen sites in the West will retain viable stands of aspen. Periodic wildfires prevent over-mature aspen stands and maintain a naturally stratified mosaic of even-aged aspen communities in various stages of successional development. Uneven-aged stands form under stable conditions where the overstory gradually disintegrates with disease or age, and is replaced by aspen suckers. Although aspen forests do not burn readily, aspen trees are extremely sensitive to fire. A severe fire will top-kill the aspen overstory and will stimulate abundant suckering. A severe fire also removes the duff and may kill roots. Repeated fires have a detrimental effect on site quality and can eliminate aspen from a site. Aspen is highly competitive on burned sites and has several adaptations to fire including the following: a) the thin bark has little heat resistance, and aspen is easily top-killed by fire, b) root systems of top-killed stems send up a profusion of sprouts for several years after fire, c)sprouts grow rapidly by extracting water, nutrients, and photosynthate from an extant root system, and may outcompete other woody vegetation, d)following fire, a new, even-aged quaking aspen stand can develop within a decade, and e) aspen is self-thinning and a mature forest of healthy trees can develop from dense sprouts. Fires top-kill mountain snowberry. Although plant survival may be variable, mountain snowberry root crowns usually survive even severe fires. Mountain snowberry sprouts from basal buds at the root crown following fire. The effects of fire on slender wheatgrass are dependent on its growth form. Tall, decadent plants with many leaves sustain the most fire damage, while those with short, sparse growth form, is the least likely to sustain damage to the root system during a fire. Nodding brome has medium fire tolerance. Mountain brome is likely to be top-killed by fire, although the coarse stems and broad leaves may be more fire-resistant than fine-leaved bunchgrasses. Mountain brome is most susceptible to fire damage when it is actively growing in spring and early summer. Columbia needlegrass is only slightly to moderately damaged by fire, because it has relatively few culms per clump which may help to minimize the amount of subsurface heat transfer and subsequent damage. Western needlegrass is moderately damaged by fire. The recovery time is between 3 and 5 years. Muttongrass is unharmed to slightly harmed by light-severity fall fires. Muttongrass appears to be harmed by and slow to recover from severe fire. Nevada bluegrass is generally unharmed by fire. It produces little litter, and its small bunch size and sparse litter reduces the amount of heat transferred to perennating buds in the soil.

State and transition model

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Ecosystem states

1. Reference Plant Community

State 1 submodel, plant communities

1.1. Reference Plant Community

State 1
Reference Plant Community

Community 1.1
Reference Plant Community

The reference plant community is sapling quaking aspen, mountain big sagebrush, snowberry and currant. Slender wheatgrass, nodding brome and mountain brome, needlegrasses, sedges, lupine, and groundsel are common understory species associated with this site. This site is composed of one to several quaking aspen clones, each with a common genetic makeup resulting in distinct phenological and physiological characteristics. Overstory tree canopy composition is 100 percent quaking aspen. An overstory canopy of about 35 percent is assumed to be representative of tree dominance on this site in a pristine environment. Apen communities are typically multi-layered. Sufficient light is able to penetrate the canopy to support abundant undergrowth.

Forest overstory.MATURE FORESTLAND: The visual aspect and vegetal structure are dominated by single-story quaking aspen that have reached, or are near, maximal heights for the site. Growth of aspen continues during this stage. Diameter growth shows recovery with the release of competition previously endured during the immature woodland stage. Tree heights range from 40 to over 60 feet with stem diameter at breast height (DBH) of 8 to over 12 inches, depending upon site and clone genotype. Trees have developed tall, straight, clear stems with short, narrow, dome-like crowns. Tree canopy cover ranges from about 30 to 40 percent. Understory vegetation is strongly influenced by tree competition, overstory shading, and duff accumulation. Shade tolerant shrubs form an open, intermittent layer in the understory. Tall perennial grasses and forbs typically form a continuous layer beneath a tree and tall shrub canopy. A lower stratum of small forbs and grasses is always part of the forest floor. Few vegetative shoots and/or saplings of quaking aspen occur in the understory.

Forest understory. Understory vegetative composition is about 50 percent grasses, 25 percent forbs and 35 percent shrubs and young trees when the average overstory canopy is medium (30 to 40 percent). Average understory production ranges from 600 to 1200 pounds per acre with a medium canopy cover. Understory production includes the total annual production of all species within 4½ feet of the ground surface.

Figure 3. Annual production by plant type (representative values) or group (midpoint values)

Table 5. Annual production by plant type

Plant type	Low (lb/acre)	Representative value (lb/acre)	High (lb/acre)
Grass/Grasslike	300	450	600
Forb	150	225	216
Shrub/Vine	108	162	216
Tree	42	63	84
Total	600	900	1116

Additional community tables

Table 6. Community 1.1 plant community composition

Group	Common name	Symbol	Scientific name	Annual production ()	Foliar cover (%)
Grass/Grasslike
1	Primary Perennial Grasses			315–567
	Dore's needlegrass	ACNED	Achnatherum nelsonii ssp. dorei	45–81	–
	western needlegrass	ACOCO	Achnatherum occidentale ssp. occidentale	45–81	–
	nodding brome	BRAN	Bromus anomalus	45–81	–
	mountain brome	BRMA4	Bromus marginatus	45–81	–
	slender wheatgrass	ELTR7	Elymus trachycaulus	45–81	–
	muttongrass	POFE	Poa fendleriana	45–81	–
2	Secondary Perennial Grasses/Grasslikes			9–45
	sedge	CAREX	Carex	9–45	–
Forb
3	Perennial			144–288
	lupine	LUPIN	Lupinus	45–81	–
	sweetroot	OSMOR	Osmorhiza	45–81	–
	ragwort	SENEC	Senecio	45–81	–
	bedstraw	GALIU	Galium	9–45	–
Shrub/Vine
4	Primary Shrubs			45–81
	mountain snowberry	SYOR2	Symphoricarpos oreophilus	45–81	–
5	Secondary Shrubs			26–108
	willow	SALIX	Salix	9–45	–
	mountain big sagebrush	ARTRV	Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana	9–45	–
	currant	RIBES	Ribes	4–9	–
	Utah serviceberry	AMUT	Amelanchier utahensis	4–9	–
Tree
6	Deciduous			45–81
	quaking aspen	POTR5	Populus tremuloides	45–81	–

Interpretations

Animal community

Livestock Interpretations:
This site is suited to cattle and sheep grazing during the summer and early fall. Livestock tend to concentrate on quaking aspen communities during the summer seeking shade and the green, succulent understory forage. Cattle select for understory grasses while sheep tend to select for forbs. Browsing has a direct impact on aspen. Through the early sapling stage, browsing reduces aspen growth, vigor and numbers. Heavy browsing by sheep or deer can eliminate aspen sucker regeneration. Suckers can be drastically reduced or eliminated by big game browsing on winter ranges. Aspen saplings need to attain a minimum height of 55 to 60 inches to avoid destructive browsing by livestock. Harvesting trees under a sound management program for fuelwood, posts or other products, can open up the tree canopy to allow increased production of understory species desirable for grazing and browsing. Snowberry is readily eaten by all classes of livestock, particularly domestic sheep.

Stocking rates vary with such factors as kind and class of grazing animal, season of use and fluctuations in climate. Actual use records for individual sites, a determination of the degree to which the sites have been grazed, and an evaluation of trend in site condition offer the most reliable basis for developing initial stocking rates.

The forage value rating is not an ecological evaluation of the understory as is the range condition rating for rangeland. The forage value rating is a utilitarian rating of the existing understory plants for use by specific kinds of grazing animals.

Wildlife Interpretations:
Quaking aspen communities provide important habitat for many species of birds and mammals. This is especially true where these woodlands are the only upland hardwood tree species. Mule deer and elk use aspen woodlands for forage, thermal cover, and escape cover during severe weather and times of harassment. Birds using aspen during their breeding season include the western tanager, common nighthawk, mourning dove, Swainson's hawk and various species of bluebird, thrush and flycatcher. Those birds using aspen during the wintering season include the Ruby-crowned kinglet, Townsend's solitaire, rough-legged hawk, Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and various species of finch and waxwing. Those using aspen yearlong or as migrants include the American robin, American kestrel, mountain chickadee, scrub jay, yellow-bellied sapsucker, long-eared owl, screech owl, great-horned owl, California quail, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, and various species of sparrow, nuthatch and woodpecker. Commonly associated mammals using the aspen community type include various species of shrew, myotis, bat, mouse and vole. Some very common species include deer mouse, Nuttall's cottontail, least chipmunk, Western gray squirrel, bushy-tailed woodrat, raccoon, long-tailed weasel and the North American porcupine. The mountain lion and bobcat use edges and sometimes the interior of the aspen community for hunting.
Snowberry is an important forage species for deer and elk on high elevation summer ranges. Snowberry is frequently one of the first species to leaf out, making it a highly sought after food in the early spring.

Hydrological functions

A well stocked aspen stand provides excellent watershed protection. The tree overstory, with an understory of woody and herbaceous species and litter, can potentially furnish total soil cover. A mixture of herbaceous and woody root systems penetrate and anchor the soil. Erosion producing overland flow is rare.

Recreational uses

Aesthetic value is derived from the rich hues and textures of the aspen trees, particularly in the fall. The diverse flora and fauna, and the colorful wildflowers in the summer enhance the beauty of this site. The site offers rewarding opportunities to photographers and for nature study. It has high value for hunting, camping, picnicking, cross country skiing and family wood gathering. Management of the aspen woodland should include small, irregularly shaped clearcuts that blend into the natural landscape. Harvesting plans should include a mix of even-aged aspen patches in all size classes. Aspen fits well into management for dispersed recreation activities, but does not tolerate concentrated use such as found in established campgrounds. Encouraging concentrated recreation or developing campgrounds within aspen stands can lead to serious damage, including carving on trees, vandalism, destruction or removal of young suckers and trampling and disturbance of the soil.

Wood products

Historically quaking aspen has been used for mine props, posts, bridge planking, flooring, furniture and fuelwood. This tree has a considerable potential for increased utilization. It makes excellent pulp, excelsior, door corestock, paper, particleboard, matchsticks, structural flakeboard, lumber products and boxwood.

PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY

This site has low site quality for tree production. Site index ranges from 35 to 45 - Site Class V (Baker, 1925).

Productivity class: 1
CMAI*: 12 to 20 ft3/ac/yr
0.7 to 1.4 m3/ha/yr
*CMAI: is the culmination of mean annual increment or highest average growth rate of the stand in the units specified.

Fuelwood Production: 3 to 8 cords per acre at 80 years (includes all trees greater than six inches DBH to a top diameter of five inches). There are about 203,000 gross British Thermal Units (BTUs) heat content per cubic foot of quaking aspen wood. Firewood is commonly measured by cord, or a stacked unit equivalent to 128 cubic feet. Solid wood volume in a cord varies, but assuming an average of 75 cubic feet of solid wood per cord, there are about 15.2 million BTUs of heat value in a cord of quaking aspen.

Saw timber: Growth on this site is very slow. Stands must be managed for over 140 years to reach saw timber size. Wood decay increases significantly with these long rotations. Shorter rotations can reduce decay problems but will decrease saw wood yield.

MANAGEMENT GUIDES AND INTERPRETATIONS:

1. LIMITATIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS
a. Potential for sheet and rill erosion is moderate to severe depending on slope.
b. Moderate to severe equipment limitations on steeper slopes and on sites having high amounts of surface stones.
c. Proper spacing is the key to a well managed, multiple use and multi-product aspen woodland.
d. To begin short-rotation management, older stands with larger trees need to be harvested.
e. Cut residual unmerchantable trees to stimulate maximum sucker regeneration and rapid development of a replacement stand – thin resulting sucker stands.
f. Soil compaction and erosion hazards are greatest if logging is done with heavy equipment when soils are saturated in late spring. Logging at this time is most damaging to aspen roots, which can reduce suckering. Root carbohydrate reserves are lowest in the spring and harvesting at this time can further reduce sprouting.

2. ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
a. Adequately protect from high intensity wildfire.
b. Protect soils from accelerated erosion.
c. Apply proper grazing management.

3. SILVICULTURAL PRACTICES
a. Harvest Cutting: Selectively harvest surplus trees to achieve desired spacing. Harvest stands in small blocks of 1/5 to 1/2 acre with slash left in place to shelter emerging aspen suckers from browsing.
1) Clear-Cutting - Clear-cutting is appropriate when the primary management objective is sustained production of forest products, either saw timber or fiber. Cutting sub-merchantable stems along with the merchantable ones will maximize sucker production, minimize the presence of diseased or defective growing stock in the new stand, and avoid suppression of the new crop by residual overstory stems.
2) Partial Cutting - Partial cutting may be feasible in some uneven-aged stands where management objectives require vertical canopy diversity or retention of some overstory; partial cutting may result in enough sprouting to adequately regenerate stands. Individual tree or group selection cutting methods can be applied. Extreme care is necessary to avoid injury to residual stems during logging. Partial cutting is not worthwhile in deteriorated aspen clones where root system die back has reduced suckering.
3) Selective Tree Removal:
Remove selected trees on suitable sites to enhance forage production and manage site reproduction.
b. Thinning - Ordinarily, only stands on saw timber sites should be thinned. Pre-commercial thinning may be uneconomical as the low productivity of this site would not justify thinning costs.
c. Protection from Disease - There are no proven forest stand treatments that successfully prevent or control disease in aspen. Maintenance of well-stocked stands, minimizing wounding of stems and control of damaging agents, and harvesting at the proper rotation age are the best management recommendations that can be made today.
d. Protection from Insects - Direct control of insects in aspen forests has not been practical. The environmental side-effects from chemical pesticide spraying usually has not been acceptable in the aspen ecosystem. Maintenance of a well-stocked stand and protection from wounding is the most practical method of coping with insects in the aspen forest.
e. Protection from Mammals - Domestic livestock, wild ungulates, porcupines, rodents and hares utilize aspen as food and can have measurable impacts on some stands. Most animal damage can be prevented by careful husbandry of domestic livestock and by population control of wild game. Because most aspen stands are grazed by cattle and/or sheep and have a significant population of wild ungulates, proper grazing management and game management are important to aspen communities.
f. Fire Management - Fire is a natural feature of the aspen ecosystem. Fire is considered responsible for the abundance of aspen in the West as well as the even-aged structure of many stands. Without human intervention, fire appears to be necessary for the continued well-being of aspen on sites where natural degeneration of the clone occurs, or where insects or pests are especially harmful to the stand. Fires in aspen generally are infrequent, spread slowly, are of low intensity, and are easy to control. Although aspen forests do not burn readily, aspen trees are extremely sensitive to fire. Even very light fires will kill aspen because the bark is thin and green, and lacks protective corky layers. Although the flammability of adjacent grasslands can make prescribed burning of aspen stands risky, fire is an inexpensive and effective way to naturally regenerate the aspen forest. Moderate intensity fire that kills most or all the overstory will stimulate adequate suckering and will have the least effect on subsequent sucker growth. Frequent fires may adversely affect site quality.

Other information

Quaking aspen are used to stabilize soil and watersheds. The trees produce abundant litter that contains more nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and calcium than leaf litter of most other hardwoods. The litter decays rapidly, forming nutrient-rich humus that may amount to 25 tons per acre (oven-dry basis). The humus reduces runoff and aids in percolation and recharge of ground water.
Slender wheatgrass is widely used for revegetating disturbed lands. It has been used for rehabilitating mine spoils, livestock ranges, wildlife habitat and watershed areas. Slender wheatgrass is used for rehabilitating alpine meadows and other high elevation habitats.
Slender wheatgrass is a short-lived perennial with good seedling vigor. It germinates and establishes quickly when seeded making it a good choice for quick cover on disturbed sites. It persists long enough for other, slower developing species to establish. It is especially valuable for use in saline soils.
Mountain snowberry is useful for establishing cover on bare sites and has done well when planted onto roadbanks.

Table 7. Representative site productivity

Common name	Symbol	Site index low	Site index high	CMAI low	CMAI high	Age of CMAI	Site index curve code	Site index curve basis	Citation
quaking aspen	POTR5	35	45	12	20	–	–	–

Supporting information

Type locality

Location 1: Nye County, NV
Township/Range/Section	T7N R46E S36
General legal description	Little Cottonwood Canyon, about 5 1/2 miles south of McCann Canyon, Monitor Range, Toiyabe National Forest, Nye County, Nevada.

Other references

Fire Effects Information System (Online; http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/).

USDA-NRCS Plants Database (Online; http://www.plants.usda.gov).

Airola, D. A. 1980. Northeast Interior Zone: Vol. III - Birds & Vol. IV - Mammals. U.S. Gov. Printing Off.: 1980-690-082/26.

Baker, F. S. 1925. Aspen in the central Rocky Mountain region. USDA, Bulletin 1291, 47 p. Washington D.C.

DeByle, N. V., and R.P. Winokur, editors. 1985. Aspen: Ecology and Management in the Western United States. General Technical Report RM-119, Rocky Mtn For & Rng Exp Sta, FS, USDA.

DeByle, N.V., P.J. Urness, and D.L. Blank. 1989. Forage Quality in Burned and Un-burned Aspen Communities. Research Paper INT-404. Inter. Res. Sta., FS, USDA.

Eyre, F.H. (editor). 1980. Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada. Society of American Foresters, Washington, D.C.

Contributors

GKB

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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