The Klamath Mountains, which include the Siskiyou, Marble, Scott, Trinity, Trinty Alps, Salmon, and northern Yolla-Bolly Mountains,[1] are a rugged lightly populated mountain range in northwest California and southwest Oregon in the United States. The highest peaks are Mount Eddy (9025 ft / 2750 m) in Siskiyou County, California, Thompson Peak (9002 ft / 2744 m) in Trinity County, California, and Mount Ashland (7,533 ft / 2296 m) in Jackson County, Oregon. They have a varied geology, with substantial areas of serpentine and marble, and a climate characterised by a moderately cold winters with very heavy snowfall, and warm very dry summers with limited rainfall.[2] As a consequence of the geology, the mountains harbor a unique floristic region known as the Klamath-Siskiyou, which includes several endemic or near-endemic trees, such as Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), Foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana spp, balfourinana), Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana) and a small shrub Kalmiopsis (Kalmiopsis leachiana), forming one of the largest collections of different conifers in the world.[3] The northernmost and largest sub-range of the Klamath Mountains are known as the Siskiyou Mountains. The area is also home to a diverse array of wild fish and animal species, including nine species of salmonid, plus bears, large cats, and eagles. Physiographically, they are a section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn are part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division.
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Wilderness areas and national forests
Official wilderness areas include the Trinity Alps Wilderness (second largest in California), the Siskiyou Wilderness, the Marble Mountain Wilderness, the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness, the Red Buttes Wilderness, the Russian Wilderness, and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. There are extensive hiking trail systems, recreation areas and campgrounds both primitive and developed. 211 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail passes through these mountains as well. This stretch of the PCT is known locally as The Big Bend and is the transition from the California Floristic Province to the Cascade Mountains. Several national forests converge in this region comprising millions of hectares of forest: Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou National Forest, Klamath National Forest, Six Rivers National Forest, and Mendocino National Forest.
Major rivers, lakes, and game fish species
Major rivers and lakes in the Klamath Mountains include the Klamath River, Trinity River, Smith River, Salmon River, Rogue River, Scott River, Sacramento River and Castle Lake.
The many mountains, streams and rivers form a major spawning ground for several species of trout and salmon, yet recently, in the last 50 years, some of the fish stocks have fallen drastically, particularly salmon stocks. The ecoregion's rivers and streams are home to nine species of native salmonids. The depletions occur mainly because the creation of dams and excessive clear cut logging on the steep rugged slopes of the area both contribute to large amounts of silt in the stream beds, which in turn interferes with the salmon spawning, as they need exposed gravel beds in which to lay their eggs.[citation needed] Other notable fish species, besides king salmon and silver salmon, include steelhead, brown trout, rainbow trout, kokanee salmon, eastern brook trout, crappie, bluegill, catfish, large and smallmouth bass.
Fauna
The vast forested wildlands, coupled with a low rate of human settlement in the rugged remote terrain, makes for excellent habitat for a number of species.[1] Mammal species include mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, lynx, raccoons, martens, fishers, beavers, grey fox, red fox, northern flying squirrel, and plentiful deer. Bird species include golden eagles, bald eagles, pileated woodpecker, band-tailed pigeon, several hawks including goshawks, several large owl species including the spotted owl, plus an extensive variety of additional species both plant and animal. The area used to have grizzly bear, wolves. One recent success story involves the reintroduction of Roosevelt Elk. The project first began in 1985 in the western Marble Mountains, near Elk Creek. Over the next 10 year the number and placement of reintroduced animals was expanded and now elk can be seen roaming throughout the Marble Mountain Wilderness, in the northern Siskiyou Mountains, and along the South Fork of the Salmon River.[4] Some of the most remote areas hear rumors of bigfoot/sasquatch sightings from time to time, and the legendary creatures play a part in the native folk tales of the Native American populations.[citation needed]
Flora
The Klamath-Siskiyou is in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. The ecoregion harbors rich biodiversity, with several distinct plant communities, including temperate rain forests, moist inland forests, oak forests and savannas, high elevation forests, and alpine grasslands. One of the principal plant communities in the Klamath Mountains is Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest.[5] Thirty conifer species (or more depending on where one delineates the region) inhabit the area, including two endemic species Brewer's spruce and Port Orford cedar, making the Klamath Mountains one of the richest coniferous forest regions of the world--in terms of concentrated species diversity. The region also has several edaphic plant communities, adapted to specific soil types, notably serpentine outcrops.
A large concentration of diverse coniferous species of trees exists in these mountains.[6] Specifically in the Russian Wilderness, Dr. John O. Sawyer and Dr. Dale Thornburgh discovered 17 species of conifers in one square mile of varied mountainous terrain, not to mention over 400 other species of vascular plants.[1] They called this diverse area the Miracle Mile. Conifer species in the Klamath Mountains include Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. menziesii), Lawson's Cypress (also known as Port Orford Cedar, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana), Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), White Fir (Abies concolor subsp. lowiana), Red Fir (A. magnifica subsp. shastensis), Weeping Spruce (Picea breweriana), Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Western Red Cedar (Thuja Plicata), and Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia).
Typical species of the Trinity Alps region include Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, red fir, white fir, black oak, canyon live oak, Pacific madrone, bigleaf maple, California buckeye, incense cedar, and Jeffrey pine. California's northernmost stand of Gray Pine is found here along the South Fork of the Salmon River.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Sawyer, John O. (2006). Northwest California. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- ^ 2006 C.N. Skinner, A.H. Taylor & J.K. Agee. Klamath Mountains bioregion. In: Fire in California’s Ecosystems. Edited by N.G. Sugihara, J.W. van Wagtendonk, J. Fites-Kaufman, K.E Shaffer, A.E. Thode. University of California Press, Berkeley. pp. 170-194.
- ^ Sawyer, J.O. (2004). "Conifers of the Klamath Mountains". Vegitation Ecology, Proceedings of the second conference on Klamath-Siskiyou ecology. Cave Junction, OR: Siskiyou Field Institute. pp. 128–135.
- ^ Klamath National Forest | url=http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/klamath/projects/projects/elk-strategy | accessdate=2009-03-07
- ^ Hogan, C. Michael (2008). "California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii)". Globaltwitcher.com. N. Stromberg. http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82385.
- ^ Lanner, R.M. (1999). Conifers of California. Los Olivos, California: Cachuma Press.
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