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Central Nevada Bald Mountains

Ecoregion in Great Basin, NV

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The Central Nevada Bald Mountains are dry and mostly treeless. Although they rise only a hundred miles east of the Sierra Nevada, they lack Sierra Nevada species because of the dry conditions. These barren-looking mountains are covered instead by dense mountain brush that is dominated by mountain big sagebrush, western serviceberry, snowberry, and low sagebrush. They contrast with the forested High Elevation Carbonate Mountains (13e) to the east, where the mountain brush zone is too narrow to be mapped as a separate ecoregion. Scattered groves of curlleaf mountain-mahogany and aspen in moister microsites grow above the shrub layer. A few scattered limber or bristlecone pines grow on ranges that exceed 10,000 feet. The Toiyabe Range (west of Big Smoky Valley) is high enough to have an alpine zone, but it lacks a suitable substrate to retain snowmelt moisture. The isolation of these “sky islands” has led to the development of many rare and endemic plant species.

— EPA

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