Finally, there is the alpine zone, which is areas above treeline that are primarily composed of alpine meadows, shrubland, rock, and pockets of bristlecone pine. Exhibit 7 and Map V-1 present the vegetation types across the watershed. Both the map and the table illustrate the widespread extent of the ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir vegetation types. A detailed table, which breaks the vegetation types down by subwatershed, can be found in Appendix B. Exhibit 7 . In addition to the tree dominated vegetation types, approximately 10 percent of the Assessment Area is non-forested and covered with grasslands, meadows, shrublands and rock.
Riparian areas occur in areas with high water tables, both in forested and non-forested areas.
Forest grasslands and meadows occur throughout the higher elevation areas and small pockets are interspersed with other vegetation types. The grasslands can support perennial grasses and forbs. It is possible that some of these open areas are the result of fire. Riparian zones are found in approximately nine percent of the area, and occur in all vegetation areas. Riparian areas are typically located adjacent to streams and around springs, lakes or bogs.