Blue Mountains, Oregon, USA Photograph by Daren H Spencer   Western North America: Western United States Temperate Coniferous Forests   25,000 square miles (64,700 square kilometers) -- about the size of West Virginia Critical/Endangered

· Blue Mountains’ Majesty
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Blue Mountains’ Majesty

With some of North America's finest stands of old growth ponderosa pine, Englemann spruce, western larch, and grand fir,the old-growth forests of the Blue Mountains ecoregion provide refuge for a diversity of wildlife including northern spotted owls, Lewis' woodpeckers, Williamson's sapsuckers, red-breasted nuthatches, and golden-crowned kinglets. In the nearby mountain meadows and grasslands, herds of elk, bighorn sheep, and mule deer nibble on bunch grasses. The Blue Mountains ecoregion is a beautiful mosaic of habitats ranging from desert-like environments with cactuses and bunchgrass to alpine environments with snowfields and high lakes.

Special Features

The landscape in this ecoregion varies from moderate slopes to deeply dissected and glaciated mountains. Along the eastern boundary of the ecoregion lies the deepest river gorge in North America,Hells Canyon. This ecoregion is also home to some of the oldest rocks in Oregon, dating back to the Paleozoic Era (570 to 225 million years ago).

	The Hells Canyon Ecosystem within this ecoregion harbors the largest free-roaming elk herd in North America.

Wild Side

Along streams and rivers, elk, bighorn sheep, and mule deer move between summer and winter homes, bald eagles nest in tall trees, and migrating birds stop to feed and rest. Old- growth forests of spruce, pine, and fir provide refuge for a diversity of birds including northern spotted owls, boreal owls, woodpeckers, thrushes, and warblers. Many of these forest birds are attracted to snags--large, dead trees that often remain standing in the old- growth forests and provide an abundance of insects for the birds to feast on. In other, drier, parts of the ecoregion, cactuses and bunchgrass thrive.

Cause for Concern

Along streams and in old-growth forests of the Blue Mountains, habitats are being rapidly depleted because of extensive logging, livestock grazing, flood abatement, hydroelectric dams, and fire suppression. There has been a 90 percent decline in old-growth ponderosa pines, and continued logging threatens the remaining stands. Fire suppression and livestock grazing have resulted in shifts in species compositions from parklike stands of large ponderosa pine with open, grassy understories to dense fir understories prone to catastrophic fires. In the region's rivers and streams, 43 species of fish are at risk of extinction, including several species of salmon. Logging, livestock grazing, flood abatement, and other factors have degraded natural communities and ecological processes within aquatic areas and riparian zones. Other threats include exotic plants.

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