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A compilation of 1884 modern pollen surface samples was analyzed to explore the relationships between spatial distributions of pollen percentage data vs. climate and vegetation in western North America. Modern pollen spectra capture many of the unique traits of regional vegetation patterns and reflect regional patterns of climate diversity. Large-scale vegetation differences were identifiable by their pollen signatures. At the coarsest scale, forested regions were dominated by arboreal pollen and Pinus pollen abundances were typically >30%. In contrast, non-forested regions were dominated by shrub and herbaceous pollen types with Pinus percentages typically <30%. At finer scales, indicator taxa were useful for identifying vegetation types. For example, Picea was a good first-order indicator of boreal spruce forest vegetation with relatively high median percentages (22%), whereas Quercus was a good first-order …