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Sierran Alpine

Ecoregion in Sierra Nevada, CA

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The Sierran Alpine ecoregion is above tree line and includes the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada. Tree line generally occurs at about 10,500 feet in the southern and central areas and at about 9,600 feet in the north. On the eastern side, elevations of the alpine zone may start as high as 12,000 feet. Numerous peaks are higher than 14,000 feet. In the harsh climate of this region, growing seasons are short and cool, and winters are long, cold, and snowy. Vegetation is limited or non-existent on the exposed bedrock, boulder fields, and talus slopes. Cushion plants, tufted grasses, alpine willows, sedges, and various shrubs and herbaceous plants occur, as well as krummholz forms of high-elevation conifers in the lower alpine zone, such as mountain hemlock and whitebark pine. Only a few animals are adapted to this area, such as the American pika, Belding’s ground squirrel, and yellow-bellied marmot. Soil temperature regimes are mostly cryic.

— EPA

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