Northwestern forested mountains: Chapter 8

Th e Northwestern Forested Mountains are ecologically diverse and geographically widespread, encompassing the mountain ecosystems of central and northwestern North America (CEC 1997; Figure 2.2). Th e ecoregion description is adapted from CEC (1997). Geographically, they extend from the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada north through the Siskiyous, the east side of the Cascade Range, and then east of the Coast Ranges to interior Alaska. Climatically, the region is characterized by a transition from a moist, maritime climate in the northwest, to a continental and drier climate in the Rockies in the southeast. Orographically generated rainfall creates both rain shadows and wet belts, often in close proximity.