icon Utah Breeding Bird Atlas Habitat Codes

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Habitat Codes

Extensive information and distribution maps of the Utah habitats can be found in the DWR Avian Strategy document Document, on pages 178 to 217. Note that this PDF file is over 8 meg and will take a long time to load.

RIPARIAN WETLANDS
LRLowland Riparian Lowland Riparian habitat occurs generally lower than 5,500 ft in elevation and consists primarily of Fremont cottonwood dominant landscapes with varying densities of shrubby understory vegetation. <<:more>>
MRMountain Riparian Mountain riparian occurs generally above 5,500 ft in elevation and consists primarily of narrowleaf cottonwood and thinleaf alder dominant landscapes with varying densities of shrubby understory vegetation. <<:more>>
WLWetlands Wetland habitat consists primarily of low elevation marsh and Wetland areas (5,500 ft). <<:more>>
WMWet Meadow Wet Meadow habitat consists of water saturated meadows containing mostly grasses and sedges at elevations ranging from approximately 3,300 - 9,800 ft. <<:more>>
SHRUBLANDS
SSShrubsteppe Shrubsteppe habitat consists primarily of sagebrush communities with a variety of associated shrubs and grass species. <<:more>>
MSMountain Shrub Mountain Shrub habitat in Utah consists primarily of mountain mahogany and Gambel oak communities, or Rocky Mountain maple dominant landscapes which are often associated with various other higher elevation shrubs within conifer forests at 3,300 - 9,800 ft elevation. <<:more>>
HDHigh Desert Scrub High Desert Scrub consists primarily of greasewood, Atriplex, and halogeton dominant landscapes associated with various grasses, forbes, and other shrubs (primarily sagebrush) at 2,200 - 10,300 ft elevation. <<:more>>
LDLow Desert Scrub Low Desert Scrub habitat consists primarily of black brush and creosote dominant landscapes associated with various other warm desert shrubs at 2,200 - 6,000 ft elevation. <<:more>>
NONorthern Oak Northern Oak habitat in Utah consists of one oak type, Gambel oak, with associated maples and sagebrush. <<:more>>
DODesert Oak Deseret Oak habitat in Utah consists of Gambel oak, shrub live-oak, and shinnery oak, and related hybrid forms (wavyleaf oak and shrub live-oak) co-occurring with various shrubs. Desert Oak communities are limited in distribution to Emery, Garfield, Grand, Kane, San Juan, Washington, and Wayne counties at elevations ranging from 2,700 - 7,000 ft. <<:more>>
GRASSLAND
GLGrassland Grassland communities consist of perennial and annual grasses/forbes. The predominant elevations at which Grassland habitat occurs is approximately 2,200 - 9,000 ft. <<:more>>
ALAlpine Alpine (high elevation tundra) habitat consist of primarily sedges and some grasses at elevations above 9000 ft. <<:more>>
FOREST
SASub-Alpine Conifer Sub-Alpine Conifer in Utah and consists primarily of Engelmann spruce and/or subalpine fir dominant communities occurring between 6,000 - 11,200 ft elevation. Associated forested habitats occurring within Sub-Alpine Conifer vary with that range of elevation. <<:more>>
MCMixed Conifer Mixed Conifer habitat in Utah consisting primarily of Douglas and white fir dominant communities occurring primarily between 5,000 - 10,000 ft elevation. <<:more>>
PPPonderosa Pine Ponderosa Pine forests in Utah occur between 5,200 - 8,700 ft elevation. Habitat diversity changes according to elevation within Ponderosa Pine forests both in terms of shrub composition in the understory and association with other tree species. <<:more>>
LPLodgepole Pine Lodgepole Pine habitat occurs between 6,000 - 11,300 ft elevation. Lodgepole Pine is the most common conifer in the Uinta Mountains, and within (8,000 - 11,000 ft elevation, lodgepole habitat becomes mixed with either blue spruce or subalpine fir, depending upon location. <<:more>>
PJPinyon-Juniper Pinyon-Juniper represents the second-most common habitat within Utah between approximately 2,700 - 11,000 ft elevation. However, community composition varies considerably with elevation within this broad statewide band. <<:more>>
ASAspen Aspen occurs in all Utah counties within elevations between 5,600 - 10,500 ft. <<:more>>
ADDITIONAL HABITAT CATEGORIES
WWater Water habitat consists of natural lakes, streams and rivers, and man-made reservoirs. <<:more>>
RRock Rock habitats consist of rock outcrops and rock dominant landscapes throughout all elevations. <<:more>>
PPlaya The Playa habitat category consists of the Barrens and Pickleweed Barrens habitat types at 4,200 ft elevation or below. <<:more>>
AGAgriculture The agricultural features include pastureland, hay fields, row crops (mostly corn, wheat, barley, and other cereal grains) and orchards with their adjacent margins and irrigation canals. <<:more>>
UUrban The urban habitat category refers to metropolitan areas, cities, towns, and landscapes developed mainly for residential and industrial purposes. <<:more>>
CCliff Cliffs and rocky precipices, sometimes adjacent or near active waterfalls. <<:more>>


Disclaimer:
This site presents an idea about how a breeding bird atlas could be done for Utah. It has not been accepted and is for planning and 'what if' purposes only.