Trees and Plants

Glacier National Park is part of a large, well-preserved ecosystem known as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem," a mostly pristine wilderness.

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Trees and Plants Details

Glacier National Park is part of a large, well-preserved ecosystem known as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem," a mostly pristine wilderness. Almost all the plants and animals that existed at the time European explorers first entered the region are present in the park today. A huge variety of trees and plants live in the park. There are at least 1,132 species of vascular plants (those containing vessels that conduct water and nutrients), 20 different tree species, 93 woody shrubs or vines, 88 annual or biennial plant species, and 804 types of perennial herbs. Included in these numbers are 127 non-native species. There are also at least 855 species of mosses and lichens, and likely more than 200 species of fungi, but this group has not been as well studied. Sixty-seven vascular and 42 non-vascular plant species found in the park are listed as "sensitive" by the State of Montana. Plant life inside the park is largely dependent on its location. Moist, temperate conditions on the west side of Glacier National Park have allowed the eastern-most extension of Pacific cedar-hemlock forest to develop in the Lake McDonald Valley. Here, moisture from the Pacific coast condenses during its rise to the Continental Divide. On the east side of the park, dry chinook winds have sculpted trees along the high ridges while calmer conditions prevail in the aspen groves below. The difference in rainfall between the two sides of the park is not extreme, but the east side's desiccating winds have made the plant communities very different here. Whereas the west side of the park features dark, ancient cedar and hemlock forests, the east side has more open forests, glades and grasslands. Plant varieties change somewhat north to south, as well, because the north half of the park is in the rain shadow of the Whitefish Range. Here, the cedar-hemlocks give way to the drier Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests in the North Fork, Flathead River drainage.

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