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26-891: The northern segment of the range is part of the Lolo National Forest , while the south is part of the Deerlodge National Forest . The range also includes part of the Threemile Wildlife Management Area, the Welcome Creek Wilderness Area, the Skalkaho Game Preserve, and the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area . The range is bisected by just two roads, Route 38 at 7250 foot (2210 m) Skalkaho Pass and FS80 at Lutz Creek. Besides West Pintler Peak (considered part of

52-471: A 3-year-old seedling may be considered established; in moist habitats, seedlings may need 4 or 5 years to become established on mineral soil, possibly longer on litter seedbeds. Growth remains very slow for several to many years. Three years after shelterwood felling in subalpine Alberta, dominant regeneration averaged 5.5 cm in height in scarified blocks, and 7.3 cm in non-scarified blocks (Day 1970), possibly reflecting diminished fertility with

78-460: A degree, these classification procedures have important limitations; genetic composition of the seeds produced by a stand is determined by both the seed trees and the pollen parents, and species classification of hybrid seedlots and estimates of their level of introgression on the basis of seed-tree characteristics can be unreliable when hybrid seedlots vary in their introgressiveness in consequence of spatial and temporal variations in contributions from

104-544: A variety of spruce and fir tree species . Western red cedars grow larger in Lolo National Forest than any other tree species does anywhere in Montana, attaining over 8 feet (250 cm) in diameter and almost 200 feet (60 m) in height. In total, 1,500 plant species exist in the forest as well as 60 species of mammals , 20 varieties of fish and 300 species of birds . Large mammals found in Lolo National Forest include

130-575: Is a national forest located in western Montana , United States with the western boundary being the state of Idaho . The forest spans 2 million acres (8,000 km ) and includes four wilderness areas; the Scapegoat and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness are partially within the forest while the Welcome Creek and Rattlesnake Wildernesses are solely in Lolo National Forest. The forest

156-558: Is a subjective concept based on the idea that once a seedling has successfully reached a certain size, not much is likely to prevent its further development. Criteria vary, of course, but Noble and Ronco (1978), for instance, considered that seedlings four to five years old, or 8 cm to 10 cm tall, warranted the designation "established", since only unusual factors such as snow mold , fire , trampling , or predation would then impair regeneration success. Eis (1967) suggested that in dry habitats on either mineral soil or litter seedbeds

182-422: Is more difficult. Species classification for seeds collected from spruce stands in which introgressive hybridization between white and Sitka spruces ( P. sitchensis ) may have occurred is important for determining appropriate cultural regimens in the nursery. If, for instance, white spruce grown at container nurseries in southwestern British Columbia are not given an extended photoperiod, leader growth ceases early in

208-588: Is the location for the forest headquarters and is centrally positioned within sight of the forestlands. There are local ranger district offices in Huson , Missoula, Plains , Seeley Lake , and Superior . The tallest point in the Lolo is Scapegoat Mountain at 9,186 feet (2,800 m). In descending order of land area the forest is located in parts of Mineral , Missoula , Sanders , Granite , Powell , Lewis and Clark , Flathead , and Ravalli counties. Lolo National Forest

234-507: The grizzly , black bear , cougar , timber wolf , mountain goat , bighorn sheep , elk , moose and mule deer . Both the bald and golden eagle reside in the forest along with trumpeter swan , herons and 30 varieties of ducks . The forest has a dozen improved campgrounds and 700 miles (1,100 km) of hiking trails. There are over 100 named lakes and five rivers including the Flathead River . The city of Missoula, Montana

260-469: The pulvinus , give it away. Beyond that, determination can become more difficult. Intensive sampling in the Smithers/Hazelton/Houston area of British Columbia showed Douglas (1975), according to Coates et al. (1994), that cone scale morphology was the feature most useful in differentiating species of spruce; the length, width, length: width ratio, the length of free scale (the distance from

286-561: The "Stony Mountain" roadless area. The Skalkaho Game Preserve is within it. A feature of this roadless area is Fuse Lake, which contains rare Arctic grayling . Finally, about 117,000 acres of roadless country in the southern Sapphires are connected via a narrow roadless spur to the Anaconda-Pintlar Wilderness , in the Anaconda Range , for a total roadless area (again, as of 1992) of 368,000 acres. Wolke describes this part of

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312-717: The Anaconda Range), the highest point in the Sapphire Mountains is Kent Peak , located at 46°03.79'N and 113°47.61'W at an elevation of 8999 feet (2743 m). The Sapphires contain three large National Forest roadless areas, in addition to the officially protected Welcome Creek Wilderness . The northernmost, about 77,000 acres in size, is centered on Quigg Peak, el. 8419 ft. This area is characterized by thousands of acres of sliderock or talus slopes, and extensive Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine forests rising to open, glaciated ridges. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats utilize

338-670: The Sapphires as "lower rolling mountains, mostly under 9,000 feet and heavily forested, except for parts of the rocky crest." About 98,000 acres of this roadless area are protected as a Wilderness Study Area . Sapphires of gem quality are found in the region. They were first found in this region at Rock Creek near Philipsburg in 1892. Rock Creek, also known as Gem Mountain, has been the most productive site in Montana for sapphires by far, even more so than Yogo Gulch, producing over 190 million carats of sapphires . Garnets are also found here. Lolo National Forest Lolo National Forest

364-620: The area. U.S. Senator Jon Tester , (D. Mont.) has proposed about 8,275 acres of the Quigg Peak roadless area be designated wilderness in his proposed wilderness bill, S.B. 1470, the Senate Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009. There is some dispute as to whether the Quigg Peak area is part of the Sapphires or the adjacent John Long Mountains . Just south of the Welcome Creek Wilderness are (as of 1992) 103,000 acres of roadless country called

390-429: The branches, and by their cones (without any protruding bracts ), which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth. Spruce are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly) species, such as the eastern spruce budworm . They are also used by

416-565: The family Pinaceae , found in the northern temperate and boreal ( taiga ) regions of the Earth. Picea is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae . Spruces are large trees, from about 20 to 60 m (about 60–200 ft) tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. Spruces can be distinguished from other genera of the family Pinaceae by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures ( pulvini or sterigmata ) on

442-643: The first growing season, and seedlings do not reach the minimum height specifications. But, if an extended photoperiod is provided for Sitka spruce, seedlings become unacceptably tall by the end of the first growing season. Species classification of seedlots collected in areas where hybridization of white and Sitka spruces has been reported has depended on (i) easily measured cone scale characters of seed trees, especially free scale length, (ii) visual judgements of morphological characters, e.g., growth rhythm, shoot and root weight, and needle serration, or (iii) some combination of (i) and (ii) (Yeh and Arnott 1986). Useful to

468-563: The following spring. More than half of spruce seedling mortality probably occurs during the first growing season and is also very high during the first winter, when seedlings are subjected to freezing damage, frost heaving and erosion, as well as smothering by litter and snow-pressed vegetation. Seedlings that germinate late in the growing season are particularly vulnerable because they are tiny and have not had time to harden off fully. Mortality rates generally decrease sharply thereafter, but losses often remain high for some years. "Establishment"

494-1598: The fossil record is from the Early Cretaceous ( Valanginian ) of western Canada, around 136 million years old. P. sitchensis (Bongard) Carrière P. breweriana Watson P. likiangensis (Franchet) Pritzel P. farreri Page & Rushforth P. spinulosa (Griffith) Henry P. schrenkiana Fischer & Meyer P. smithiana (Wallich) Boiss. P. glauca (Moench) Voss P. engelmannii Parry ex Engelmann P. martinezii T.F.Patt. P. chihuahuana Martínez P. alcoquiana (Veitch ex Lindley) Carrière P. brachytyla (Franchet) Pritzel P. neoveitchii Masters P. morrisonicola Hayata P. purpurea Masters P. wilsonii Masters P. orientalis (von Linné) Peterm. P. maximowiczii Regel ex Masters P. polita (Siebold & Zuccarini) Carrière P. pungens Engelmann P. glehnii (Schmidt) Masters P. jezoensis (Sieb. & Zuccarini) Carrière P. rubens Sargent P. mariana (Miller) Britton, Sterns & Poggenburg P. omorika (Pančić) Purkyne P. obovata Ledeb. P. abies (von Linné) Karsten P. koyamae Shiras. P. asperata Masters P. koraiensis Nakai P. torano (Siebold ex Koch) Koehne P. retroflexa Masters P. shirasawae Hayashi P. crassifolia Komarov P. meyeri Rehder & Wilson As of April 2022 , Plants of

520-435: The imprint of the seed wing to the tip of the scale), and the percentage free scale (length of free scale as a percentage of the total length of the scale) were most useful in this regard. Daubenmire (1974), after range-wide sampling, had already recognized the importance of the two latter characters. Taylor (1959) had noted that the most obvious morphological difference between typical Picea glauca and typical P. engelmannii

546-416: The larvae of gall adelgids ( Adelges species). In the mountains of western Sweden , scientists have found a Norway spruce , nicknamed Old Tjikko , which by reproducing through layering , has reached an age of 9,550 years and is claimed to be the world's oldest known living tree. Determining that a tree is a spruce is not difficult; evergreen needles that are more or less quadrangled, and especially

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572-727: The pollen parent (Yeh and Arnott 1986). Secondly, morphological characters are markedly influenced by ontogenetic and environmental influences, so that to discern spruce hybrid seedlot composition with accuracy, hybrid seedlots must differ substantially in morphology from both parent species. Yeh and Arnott (1986) pointed out the difficulties of estimating accurately the degree of introgression between white and Sitka spruces; introgression may have occurred at low levels, and/or hybrid seed lots may vary in their degree of introgression in consequence of repeated backcrossing with parental species. Spruce seedlings are most susceptible immediately following germination , and remain highly susceptible through to

598-477: The removal of the A horizon. DNA analyses have shown that traditional classifications based on the morphology of needle and cone are artificial. A 2006 study found that P. breweriana had a basal position, followed by P. sitchensis , and the other species were further divided into three clades , suggesting that Picea originated in North America. The oldest record of spruce that has been found in

624-466: Was created in 1906 from 4 different previous forests which were combined for administrative purposes. Lolo National Forest is west of the Continental divide and has a biodiversity influenced by both continental and maritime weather creating a transitional forest that has a high number of different plant and tree species . Western red cedar , larch and whitebark pine share the forest with

650-458: Was established on September 20, 1906 with 1,211,680 acres (4,903.5 km ). On December 16, 1931 part of Missoula National Forest was added, followed by portions of Selway National Forest in 1934 and part of Cabinet National Forest in 1954. Spruce About 35; see text. A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea ( / p aɪ ˈ s iː . ə / py- SEE -ə ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in

676-511: Was the cone scale, and Horton (1956,1959) found that the most useful diagnostic features of the two spruces are in the cone; differences occur in the flower, shoot and needle, "but those in the cone are most easily assessed" (Horton 1959). Coupé et al. (1982) recommended that cone scale characters be based on samples taken from the midsection of each of ten cones from each of five trees in the population of interest. Without cones, morphological differentiation among spruce species and their hybrids

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