Puget Sound, Canada Photograph by John Morrison   Western North America: Western United States Temperate Coniferous Forests   8,700 square miles (22,500 square kilometers) -- about the size of New Hampshire Critical/Endangered

· From Swamps to Salmon
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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From Swamps to Salmon

Dense forests of western red cedar and western hemlock, groves of Garry oak, extensive prairies, and swamps provide just a glimpse at the amazing biodiversity of this ecoregion. The Puget Lowland Forests ecoregion is known for its rich variety of birds, amphibians, and snails. What's more, this ecoregion's Fraser River provides essential spawning habitat for several species of salmon and trout. Every year, the river attracts a wide diversity of hungry wildlife in search of the large fish, including bald eagles, harbor seals, and raccoons.

Special Features

The Fraser River is one of the most dominant features of this ecoregion. The Mediterranean-like climate has warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The vegetation varies greatly depending on the amount of moisture available. In some areas, rain-shadow effects caused by the Olympic Mountains result in some of the driest sites encountered in the region. In other places, periodic flooding is an important natural process that regenerates riparian forests.

	Annual salmon "runs"on the Fraser River are among the highest in the world. Each year an average of 10 to 20 million salmon return from the sea to this river to spawn.

Wild Side

Six species of snails that live in this ecoregion are endemic. The birds range from seabirds to blue grouse, bald eagles, and turkey vultures. Near rivers and streams, there is a richness of roosting sites for bats, spawning areas for salmon and trout, perching and nesting sites for bald eagles, and travel corridors for black-tailed deer and migratory birds. In the fall, it's common to see dozens of salmon jumping out of the waters of the Fraser River, trying to escape predators such as harbor seals and sturgeon. Bald eagles fly here from as far as Alaska, and hundreds can be seen scanning the shoreline from nearby trees, waiting for their chance to feed on the abundant salmon.

Cause for Concern

Throughout this ecoregion, small isolated "islands" of old-growth forest, bogs, and prairie-oak woodlands are surrounded by agricultural land and sprawl from cities such as Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, and Tacoma. Unfortunately, few of the remaining natural communities in this region have been protected; most have been converted to tree farms or small city and state parks. Fire suppression and the invasion of exotic species such as scotchbroom threaten the prairie-oak woodlands. Logging, flood control, and hydroelectric dams have also damaged much of the habitat.

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