Wellner Cliffs

The Wellner Cliffs Research Natural Area is located along lower Canyon Creek on the Priest River Experimental Forest, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, in northern Idaho. This Research Natural Area (RNA) features dry cliffs of gneiss, schist, and mica-influenced granitic rock, imbedded in a matrix of mid-elevation moist western hemlock/western redcedar/grand fir forests. Immediately below the cliffs is riparian  habitat that includes wetland species such as devil’s club and ladyfern, several other riparian ferns such as grape fern and woodferns, and numerous riparian forbs such as  twisted-stalk,  false bugbane, and crisp starwort.  Within the cliffs, habitats quickly change from mixed conifers on deep soils, to dry open ponderosa pine forests, to shrub and grasslands on shallow soils, to exposed rocky cliffs with high lichen diversity.