Estanzuela Park, Monterrey, Mexico Photograph by Colby Loucks   Southern North America: Eastern Mexico into southwestern United States Tropical and Subtropical Coniferous Forests   25,300 square miles (65,600 square kilometers) -- about the size of West Virginia and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Biodiverse Borderlands
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Biodiverse Borderlands

If you made a journey from the southwestern United States into Mexico's Sierra Madres, you'd find yourself hiking up and down a series of peaks and ridges covered with pine and oak forests. You'd see small flocks of Mexican chickadees flitting in the tree branches and hear the loud calls of several species of jays. And you'd probably notice the incredible variety of plant life growing all around. Among the ecoregion's many plant species are agaves and other important wild relatives of our agricultural crops.

Special Features

These unusual subtropical conifer forests, which contain 27 species of conifers, don't get the rain that their rain forest cousins do. But the trees that grow here are well adapted to the drier conditions. The slender needles of conifers retain moisture better than the broad leaves of deciduous trees. There are 21 species of oaks in the Sierra Madre Occidental alone. The Copper Canyon complex in this ecoregion is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

	Montezuma quails can fly, but biologists report that they rarely do unless they're nearly stepped on!

Wild Side

The abundant plant life in these dry forests supports an impressive variety of birds. Montezuma quails forage in small groups on the ground, Strickland's woodpeckers and thick-billed parrots chatter in the treetops, and zone-tailed hawks soar overhead. The region is also home to several predators with large territorial ranges, including the Mexican wolf and the jaguar. Thick-billed parrots in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains nest in trees, while the maroon-fronted parrot nest in cliffs.

Cause for Concern

Overgrazing, clearing of forests for timber and fuelwood, and development are the greatest threats to this region. The imperial woodpecker, the world's largest woodpecker at a height of almost 2 feet (60 cm) tall, was once widespread in this ecoregion but is now almost certainly extinct because of the loss of old-growth habitat and hunting pressures.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.