- Northern California coastal forests (WWF ecoregion)
-
Northern California coastal forests 
Coast Redwood forest in Redwood National Park, California.
Ecology Biome Temperate coniferous forests Borders California interior chaparral and woodlands, Klamath-Siskiyou forests and Central Pacific coastal forests Bird species 232[1] Mammal species 77[1] Geography Area 13,300 km2 (5,100 sq mi) Country United States States California and Oregon Conservation Habitat loss 4.6828%[1] Protected 15.76%[1] The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California, USA.
Contents
Setting
The ecoregion lies close to the Pacific Ocean, and is kept moist by Pacific Ocean storms during the winter months, and by coastal fogs in the summer months. The ecoregion covers 13,300 square kilometres (5,100 sq mi), extending from Del Norte County on the California-Oregon border south to Santa Cruz County. A few parts of the Santa Lucia Range in Monterey County have trees associated with this ecoregion. The ecoregion rarely extends more than 65 km inland from the coast. it is a sub-ecoregion of the Pacific Temperate Rain Forests ecoregion, which extends up the Pacific Coast to Kodiak Island in Alaska.
Flora
The ecoregion is characterized by the Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens); redwood forests are interspersed with several other plant communities, including northern coastal grasslands and northern coastal scrub in the immediate coastal zone and on hilltops, mixed evergreen forest of Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii), and California Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica) on drier slopes, and enclaves of closed-cone pine forest which include Bishop Pine (Pinus muricata) and Knobcone Pine (Pinus attenuata).
Some of the rarest forests that occurs in this coastal region are the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests, an example of which occurs in the Carbonera Creek watershed of Santa Cruz County, California.
Protected areas
- Redwood National and State Parks
- Humboldt Redwoods State Park
- Big Basin Redwoods State Park
- Headwaters Forest Reserve
- Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
See also
- List of ecoregions in the United States (WWF)
- Cedar hemlock douglas-fir forest
References
- ^ a b c d Hoekstra, J. M.; Molnar, J. L.; Jennings, M.; Revenga, C.; Spalding, M. D.; Boucher, T. M.; Robertson, J. C.; Heibel, T. J. et al. (2010). Molnar, J. L.. ed. The Atlas of Global Conservation: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities to Make a Difference. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520262560. http://www.nature.org/multimedia/maps/.
External links
Categories:- Temperate coniferous forests of the United States
- Forests of California
- Plant communities of California
- Nearctic
- Redwood National and State Parks
- Ecoregions of the United States
- Plants by habitat
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
