18 Mountain Lions of the Black Hills
The deciduous complex characterizing the Black Hills is dominated by a mixture
of streamside trees, including American elm (Ulmus americana), green ash (Fraxinus
pennsylvanica), box elder (Acer negundo), and eastern hop- horn- beam (Ostrya virgin-
iana) in the lower elevations; those trees are gradually replaced by aspen and paper
birch (Betula papyrifera) at higher elevations. Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) forests
occur in warm, dry, low- elevation sites represented by fin ger draws that are found
along the edges of the Black Hills (Hoffman and Alexander 1987). Understory plants
of the region are diverse (fig. 2.4) and include ground juniper (Juniperus horizontalis),
Oregon grape (Berberis repens), and bearberry (a.k.a. Kinnikinnick, Arctostaphylos uva-
ursi) in the north; snowberry (Symphoricarpus albus) and ser viceberry (Amelanchier
alnifolia) are common in the southern Black Hills. Common grasses include carices
(Carex spp.), poverty oat grass (Danthonia spicata), and rough rice grass (Oryzopsis
figure 2.3. Vegetation of the Black
Hills. In the image, black vegetation
is primarily ponderosa pine and white
spruce. Lighter- colored vegetation is
a mix of grasslands, burns, shrublands,
deciduous trees, and open water.
Fecske 2003.