Red fescue can be a component of early successional through climax vegetation where open conditions prevail. In the Mount St. Helens area of southeastern Washington, red fescue appeared on the surfaces of the Muddy River mudflows by summer 1981, a year after the eruption of May 18, 1980. On the west slope of the Cascade Ranges in Linn County, Oregon, red fescue is a seral dominant in a rockfell community. It is found at the next seral stage as a little more soil accumulates. Red fescue occurs in primary succession in several wetland habitats.
Red fescue occurs in subarctic northern Manitoba on the estuary of the Churchill River.
Along the shore of the estuary, extensive riverflats are being exposed and colonized by vegetation which forms zonation bands running parallel to the river shoreline. Red fescue is one of the principal grasses in the youngest closed community on the recently exposed flats. Terraces of the McKinley River occur on the north slope of the Alaska Range in the central section of Denali National Park. These terraces are of different ages and in different stages of succession, but they are composed of similar extremely coarse glacial outwash. Red fescue does not occur in the pioneer stage, on terraces which are 25 to 30 years old.