SUBALPINE LAKE-SHORE VEGETATION IN 
NORTH-CENTRAL COLORADO 
Francis Ramaley 
Introduction 
Very little has been published on the shore vegetation of lakes in Col- 
orado. Brief references were made to lakes of the Pike's Peak region a 
number of years ago by Clements (1,2). A somewhat extended account 
by the writer and W. W. Robbins (9) described the associations at Redrock 
Lake, Boulder County, Colorado, in the subalpine zone. Later, a short 
paper (5) pointed out certain features of shore vegetation in the montane 
zone. Recently Dr. Robbins has given a most careful and illuminating 
description (ii) of a number of lakes in the montane zone near Tolland, 
Colorado. The present writer, dealing with sedges of northern Colorado, 
has named and characterized (7) certain of the plant associations of lake 
shores at different altitudes. In a paper by Dodds (3) on the plankton 
Crustacea of Colorado lakes there are some references to vegetation and a 
very good account of physiography and climate. 
The following pages give the results of a study of subalpine lakes, the 
study carried on chiefly from the University of Colorado Mountain Labora- 
tory (8) at Tolland, Colorado, during the last ten years. A later paper 
will take up alpine lakes. 
Physiography 
The area in which lake-shore vegetation has been studied is a strip 
about 5 miles wide, along the eastern slope of the continental divide and 
extending from the southern boundary of the Rocky Mountain National 
Park south to Parry Peak, a distance of 24 miles. About 50 of the subalpine 
and alpine lakes of this district have been visited, and also a few on the 
western slope, in Grand County (see maps, figs, i and 2). The subalpine 
lakes more carefully studied are listed below together with altitudes in feet 
above sea level. These lakes are all of small size, the largest scarcely 
more than a half mile in length. 
Lakes in Boulder County: Redrock Lake (10,100), Brainard Lake 
(10,350), Long Lake (10,500), Silver Lake (10,200), Emerald Lake (11,250), 
Dixie, or Jenny, Lake (11,000). 
Lakes in Grand County: Corona Lake (11,165), Corona Reservoir 
(11,350), Lake Epworth (11,250). 
Lakes in Gilpin County: Forest Lakes (10,800-10,900), Arapahoe 
Lakes (10,700-11,200), Crater Lakes (10,400-11,000), Echo Lake (11,072), 
James Peak Lake (11,090). 
57 
