Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA Photograph by John Morrison   Western North America: Southwestern United States Temperate Coniferous Forests   2,200 square miles (5,800 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Rhode Island Vulnerable

· Cool Havens
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Cool Havens

As the Great Basin became drier millions of years ago, species of plants and animals adapted to cool and moist conditions found refuge in the isolated peaks here.

Special Features

Scientists have compared the isolated mountaintops of the Great Basin to an archipelago of oceanic islands. This is because the cool, coniferous forests occur on widely separated mountaintops in a sea of shrub and desert habitats. Because the individual forests within this ecoregion are so isolated from one another, there are many species of plants and animals that live on only one or two isolated mountain peaks.

	This ecoregion is home to the Great Basin bristlecone pine, one of the oldest living organisms on Earth, with some individuals dated at more than 4,600 years.

Wild Side

As you move from the valley bottoms to the mountain peaks, the plant life changes from shrub-steppe communities of sagebrush to woodlands and forests of pinyon pine, juniper, and Douglas fir. High in the mountains, sub-alpine communities of white pine are home to Clark's nutcrackers and chickadees. Alpine meadows and rock fields are covered in wildflowers and visited by many butterflies like blues, meadows, crescents, and hairstreaks.

Cause for Concern

The major threats to wildlife in this ecoregion include livestock grazing, gold mining, localized clearing, and building roads for microwave communication sites. In lowland areas, fire suppression and livestock grazing have been particularly harmful and have promoted the spread of invasive species such as Russian thistle and wheatgrass.

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