Silver Lake RNA

Silver Lake Exclosure Research Natural Area (RNA) was established to represent western juniper (Juniperus grandis)/big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)-western juniper/bitterbrush (Purshia)/Idaho fescue community types, as well as a third order stream system in the western juniper zone. The RNA is centered on a small, intermittent drainage to the West Fork of Silver Creek, which runs into the Silver Lake playa. Topography of the site is level to slightly sloped with intermittent drainage. Silver Creek canyon lies within the RNA and is considerably steep with substantial rock outcrops. The ponderosa pine-western juniper /mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus)-bitterbrush-sagebrush (Artemisia)/fescue (Festuca) and the western juniper/bitterbrush/fescue plant associations are in upper elevations of the RNA. The sagebrush-bitterbrush/bunchgrass plant association is common on well-developed soils. In the rocky, shallow soils of the lower elevations, low sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula ssp. arbuscula) dominates with occasional patches of Idaho fescue and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda). The Mountain alder (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa )-Douglas spiraea association dominates the riparian zone along West Fork Silver Creek and ponderosa pine dominates inside the canyon.