I am not aware of any reference text that has any really suitable material on mosses per se or any particular moss species per se. Even most scientific works do not deal with ecological concerns of mosses but rather are geared towards angiosperms and mention may be made of the moss understory.
Your best bet is to check out all the web sites on mosses and some give images of mosses and their locations. Matching this info up with accuweather info could give you insight as to the weather patterns for the area the moss occurs within.
I have listed on one of the threads in this forum all the relevant link I have. Check those.
One good one I can recall is Dereila which has images and is based out of Canada.
If moving to Montana you may wish to see if any of the major colleges there offer courses in mosses that might provide some reference materials.

wow terrestrial man you are right. Hortus Third says verrry little at all and nothing about range. Amazing. No wonder you have such an active forum here. I will search for your thread re sites. Have you checked out any of the English/European books? "Collins Guide to the Ferns, Mosses and Lichens of Britain and Northern and Central Europe" or "Grasses, Ferns, Mosses and Lichens of Great Britain" or "Moss Grower's Handbook: An Illustrated Beginner's Guide to Finding, Naming and Growing over 100 Common British Species"? This last one sounds pretty good. Probably not in print!

thanks

Hey thanks for the reminder. The Moss Growers Handbook
on British mosses may still be available for print out over the net. It may be one of the links. If you cannot find the thread with the links let me know and I will set up a new thread titled Moss Links to make it easier to find.
The Moss Growers Handbook is like 70 pages or so!!!

yes - it was one of your links, the Royal Botanic Garden site. Thank you! This is the Fletcher that I see mentioned on the threads in this forum. Cool.