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High Southern Cascades Montane Forest

Ecoregion in Cascade Range in CA, OR

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The High Southern Cascades Montane Forest ecoregion is an undulating, volcanic plateau containing isolated buttes, cones, and peaks. Some parts of the region are glaciated. The terrain often is less dissected than that of Ecoregion 4f. Elevations of Ecoregion 4e are generally intermediate to elevations in the Low Southern Cascades Mixed Conifer Forest (4f) and the Cascade Subalpine/Alpine (4d) ecoregions. In California, elevations of the ecoregion are mostly 5,500–8,500 feet, but are lower in Oregon at 4,000–8,200 feet. Cryic soils support mixed coniferous forests dominated by mountain hemlock, lodgepole pine, and, in Oregon, some Pacific silver fir; the soils are colder than the mesic and frigid soils of the Low Southern Cascades Mixed Conifer Forest ecoregion (4f). White fir and Shasta red fir also occur in the ecoregion, with some grand fir in Oregon. This region has a longer summer drought and more intermittent streams than the Cascade Crest Montane Forest ecoregion (4c) to the north in Oregon and Washington.

— EPA

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