Participant Info

Species

Picea pungens [Picea parryana]

Family

Pinaceae

CommonName

Colorado blue spruce

Presence

Yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1911

LatestDate

2025

Ecosystem

shrubland, montane, urban

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, Archuleta

Passes

Carnero, Cochetopa, Cumbres, Elwood, Mosca

WildlifePreserves

Baca, Big Meadows Reservoir, Great Sand Dunes

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, SE slope above Upper Beaver Creek cpgd 10 June 2020

Comments

Blue spruce prefers the montane, but is present from the subalpine down to the foothills, into all mountain regions of the Valley. It also thrives as a planted tree in Basin towns. The natural USA range of Picea pungens is Wyoming, Colorado west of the Plains, New Mexico, Utah, and northeastern Arizona (and thus absent in California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada). It follows the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico nearly to the Mexican border, but not farther on down stream.

Annotation