Montane wet meadow, Klamath County
(John A. Christy, Oregon Biodiversity Information Center

Wet meadows are a jumble of intergrading montane wetlands that occur along the hydrologic gradient between marshes, fens, and uplands. They are seasonally moist to wet, but surface water is absent except in streams and waterbodies, and many sites are dry by midsummer. Wet meadows are typically open and dominated by a diverse mix of grasses, sedges, and forbs. Patches of shrubs and trees are often present on elevated microsites or around the edges of the meadows. Fens, freshwater marshes, and lakes or ponds also are often present and intermixed with montane meadows, but the meadows are usually peripheral to wetter types and form the ecotone to dry upland forest. Limited organic matter accumulates in wet meadows because seasonal drying allows oxidation of this material. Historically, most montane wet meadows were grazed intensively by sheep, cattle, and horses, and the drier portions were often severely degraded by soil compaction, denudation, erosion, and subsequent invasion of exotic species. Many of these sites still show the effects of overgrazing 80 or more years after they were closed to livestock.

Wet Meadows

Habitat: Slopes, basins, or flats, mostly montane to subalpine.
Water regime: Perennially to seasonally flooded
Water chemistry: Fresh

Ecoregion*: BM = Blue Mountains, BR = Northern Basin and Range, CB = Columbia Basin, CR = Coast Range, EC = East Cascades, KM = Klamath Mountains, WC = West Cascades, WV = Willamette Valley
	Scientific & Common Name	Global & State Rank	Ecoregion*
	Allium validum - Carex scopulorum Wet Meadow [Provisional] Pacific swamp onion - mountain sedge (Crowe et al. 2004: 153, 155; Wells 2006: 152)	G3S3	BM, EC
	Agrostis pallens Grassland Thin bentgrass (Crowe et al. 2004: 137; NS)	G1S1	BM
	Bistorta bistortoides - Ranunculus macounii Wet Meadow [Provisional] American bistort - Macoun's buttercup (Evenden 1989: 50)	G4S4	BM, BR
	Calamagrostis canadensis Western Wet Meadow Bluejoint reedgrass (Murray 2000: 13; Christy 2004: 73; Crowe et al. 2004: 138; Wells 2006: 146; NS)	G4S4	BM, EC, WC
	Camassia cusickii Wet Meadow Cusick's camas (Crowe et al. 2004: 158; NS)	G2S1	BM
	Carex amplifolia Wet Meadow Bigleaf sedge (Murray 2000: 14; Christy 2004: 79; Crowe et al. 2004: 77; Wells 2006: 137; NS)	G3S3	BM, CR, EC, WC
	Carex angustata Wet Meadow [Provisional] Wide-fruited sedge (Christy 2004: 80; Crowe et al. 2004: 79; Wells 2006: 135)	G4S4	BM, EC
	Carex exsiccata Wet Meadow Western inflated sedge (Murray 2000: 15; Christy 2004: 88; Odion et al. 2013: 75; McCain et al. 2014: 83; NS)	G4S3	CR, KM, WC
	Carex illota Wet Meadow Small-headed sedge (NS)	G3S3	BM
	Carex kelloggii Wet Meadow [Provisional] Kellogg's sedge (Murray 2000: 16; Christy 2004: 91; Crowe et al. 2004: 98; Wells 2006: 136; McCain et al. 2014: 87)	G4S3	BM, EC, WC
	Carex mendocinensis Herbaceous Vegetation [Provisional] Mendocino sedge	G2S2	BM, BR, EC
	Carex nebrascensis Wet Meadow Nebraska sedge (Christy 2004: 94; Crowe et al. 2004: 103, 143; Wells 2006: 150; Christy 2014: 22; NS)	G4S4	BM, BR, EC
	Carex nigricans Wet Meadow Black alpine sedge (Christy 2004: 95; Crowe et al. 2004: 106; McCain et al. 2014: 174; NS)	G4S4	BM, BR, EC, WC
	Carex pellita Wet Meadow Wooly sedge (Crowe et al. 2004: 109; Christy 2014: 24; NS)	G3S3	BM, BR, EC
	Carex praegracilis Wet Meadow Clustered field sedge (Christy 2014: 26; NS)	G3S2	BM, BR
	Carex scopulorum Wet Meadow Mountain sedge (Christy 2004: 98; Crowe et al. 2004: 112, 114; Wells 2006: 148; McCain et al. 2014: 223; NS)	G5S4	BM, BR, WC
	Carex sheldonii Wet Meadow [Provisional] Sheldon's sedge (Crowe et al. 2004: 116; Christy 2014: 29)	G3S2	BM, BR, EC
	Carex simulata Fen Short-beaked sedge (Christy 2004: 99; Crowe et al. 2004: 117; NS)	G4S4	BM, BR, EC, WC
	Carex stipata Wet Meadow [Provisional] Awl-fruit sedge (Crowe et al. 2004: 119)	G3S1	BM, EC
	Danthonia californica - Festuca idahoensis Wet Meadow California oatgrass - Idaho fescue (NS)	G1S1	BM
	Deschampsia caespitosa Wet Meadow Tufted hairgrass (Murray 2000: 17; Christy 2004: 102; Crowe et al. 2004: 139; McCain et al. 2014: 96, 106; NS)	G4S4	BM, EC
	Deschampsia caespitosa - Carex nebrascensis Herbaceous Vegetation [Provisional] Tufted hairgrass - Nebraska sedge	G4S3	BM, BR, EC
	Deschampsia danthonioides - Danthonia unispicata Herbaceous Vegetation [Provisional] Annual hairgrass - onespike oatgrass	G3S2	BM
	Deschampsia cespitosa - Trifolium longipes Wet Meadow [Provisional] Tufted hairgrass - longstalk clover (Christy 2004: 106; Crowe et al. 2004: 144; McCain et al. 2014: 101)	G4S3	BM, EC, WC
	Equisetum arvense Wet Meadow Common horsetail (Murray 2000: 18; McCain 2004: 185; Christy 2004: 117; Crowe et al. 2004: 159; NS)	G5S5	CR, EC, WC, WV
	Equisetum telmateia Marsh [Provisional] Giant horsetail (Murray 2000: 19)	G4S3	CR
	Erythranthe guttata - (Erythranthe spp.) Wet Meadow Yellow monkeyflower - (monkeyflower spp.) (McCain et al. 2014: 266; NS)	G4S4	BM, BR, EC, WC
	Juncus balticus Wet Meadow Baltic rush (Christy 2004: 109; Crowe et al. 2004: 129, 145; Wells 2006: 151; Christy 2014: 35; NS)	G5S5	BM, BR, CB, EC, KM
	Juncus balticus - Bistorta bistortoides Wet Meadow [Provisional] Baltic rush - American bistort (Murray 2000: 21; Christy 2004: 124)	G4S4	EC, WC
	Juncus nevadensis Wet Meadow [Provisional] Sierra rush (Christy 2004: 126; Crowe et al. 2004: 131)	G4S4	EC
	Lupinus latifolius var. subalpinus - Carex spectabilis Wet Meadow Cascade lupine - showy sedge (Crowe et al. 2004: 119; McCain et al. 2014: 202; NS)	G4S2	BM, EC
	Mertensia paniculata - Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis Wet Meadow [Provisional] Bluebell - northwest nettle (Cole 1982: 17)	G4S4	BM
	Micranthes odontoloma Wet Meadow Brook saxifrage (Crowe et al. 2004: 161; NS)	G4S3	BM, EC, WC
	Poa cusickii Moist Meadow Cusick bluegrass (Crowe et al. 2004: 149; NS)	G2S2	BM, BR, EC
	Poa secunda Moist Meadow Sandberg bluegrass (NS)	G4S4	BR, EC
	Saussurea americana - Heracleum maximum Wet Meadow American sawwort - cow parsnip (Murray 2001: 7; NS)	G4S1	KM
	Senecio triangularis Wet Meadow Arrowleaf groundsel (Murray 2000: 26; Christy 2004: 143; Crowe et al. 2004: 160, 162; McCain 2004: 72,   154; Wells 2006: 154; McCain et al. 2014: 116, 219; NS)	G5S4	BM, BR, CR, EC, WC
	Veratrum californicum Wet Meadow California false hellebore (Murray 2000: 39; Crowe et al. 2004: 164; Wells 2006: 158; McCain et al. 2014: 57; NS)	G3S3	EC, BM, BR

Authored by John A. Christy, Wetlands Ecologist, (ORBIC) Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (2012 rev. 2017)