Chaenotheca furfuracea

This lichen grows in shaded forests, usually on trees and stumps, and less often on rocks. It is located throughout North America in disparate areas: southern California Coast, from Arizona to Colorado, in southern Alaska, from British Columbia to Montana, across southern Yukon and Mackenzie, from the Great Lakes region east to Nova Scotia, and in central Georgia. It is also found widely in Eurasia. Although the distribution and population sizes of this species are large enough to qualify for G5, the significant decline of the species since pre-industrial times may justify slightly reducing the rank to G4G5.

Global distribution "Common both in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Less common in Denmark [...] has a very wide distribution in cool temperate to temerate areas of the Northern Hemisphere (Eurasia, North America)." (Tibell 1999). Within North America, widespread in temperate and boreal regions.

Number of known occurences worldwide is probably > 500 (including many historic); Number of known occurrences in North America is probably > 300; Number of known occurrences in California = 1+ (see Hale & Cole 1988); Number of known occurrences in Oregon = 25+; Number of known occurrences in Washington = 3+; Number of known occurrences in British Columbia = ca. 47. Rikkinen (2003?) reports on 43 locations from the region. Although the number of extant occurrences worldwide is unknown, the North American occurrences (collections) are recent and are mostly extant. (Jouko has 43 locations across all states)

Worldwide, the species has gone through drastic declines since pre-industrial times. The Pacific Northwest, due to logging, has been no exception. However, the rate of loss in the Pacific Northwest has slowed. Although little is known about the reproductive and dispersal biology of this species, it is thought that the species can overcome some habitat fragmentation and, at this point, is fairly secure from extirpation or extinction. However, given the general old-growth association of this species, it should not be ignored in conservation actions.