Klamath Mountains bioregion

Abstract

The Klamath Mountains bioregion makes up a major portion of northwestern California continuing into southwestern Oregon to near Roseburg. In California, the bioregion lies primarily between the Northern California Coast bioregion on the west and the southern Cascade Range to the east. The southern boundary is made up of the Northern California Coast Ranges and Northern California Interior Coast Ranges (Miles and Goudey 1997). The very steep and complex terrain of the Klamath Mountains covers approximately 22,500 km2 (8,690 mi2), or 6% of California. The bioregion includes the Klamath and Trinity River systems, the headwaters of the Sacramento River, the most extensive exposure of ultramafic rocks in North America (Kruckeberg 1984), and the most diverse conifer forests in North America (Cheng 2004).

Citation

Skinner, Carl N.; Taylor, Alan H.; Agee, James K. 2006. Klamath Mountains Bioregion. in: N. G. Sugihara, J. W. van Wagtendonk, J. Fites-Kaufmann, K. E. Shaffer, and A. E. Thode, editors. Fire in California's ecosystems. University of California Press, Berkeley.: 170-194.