High Dams, Humongous Fungus, and Kam Wah Chung The Blue Mountains as defined by the World Wildlife Fund are complex in biological communities, with a variety of habitats based on elevation. Communities include sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, western larch, spruce, lodgepole pine, chaparral, mountain meadows and grasslands which extend from western-central Idaho to the … More Blue Mountains Forests, Part A
Other federal sites in the Palouse grasslands are operated by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Okanagan and Grand Coulee (Scabland) areas Coffeepot Lake Recreation Area, BLM, Washington (N47˚30’ W118˚33’) is a 900-acre area on a lake framed by basalt cliffs, located west of Harrington. Escure Ranch, BLM, Washington (N47˚1’ W117˚58’) is a 13,000-acre hiking … More Palouse Grasslands, Part 3
Part 2 includes reservoirs, national trail system, national wildlife refuge system, and national wilderness areas. Reservoirs that are owned or licensed by the federal government are described below. In the Palouse grasslands, there are 15 reservoirs in this category. On tributaries of the lower Columbia River, Willow Creek Lake, USACE, Oregon (N45˚21’ W119˚33’), is a flood … More Palouse Grasslands, Part 2
The Palouse grasslands (NA813) as delineated by the World Wildlife Fund and Nature Conservancy include portions of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington which are in the rain shadow of the Cascades. This description also includes the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia because of its grassland habitat extending north from the US-Canada border. The ecoregion is characterized … More Palouse Grasslands, Part I
Location: Canada (British Columbia) and United States (Washington) Latitude-Longitude: 47 to 50˚N, 117 to 121˚W Overview The Okanagan dry forests ecosystem is east of the Cascades and north of the Palouse Prairie. Vegetation is a mosaic of pine forests, sagebrush, and grasslands. Common trees are lodgepole pine, aspen, white spruce, and Douglas-fir. The cities of … More Okanagan Dry Forests
Part G State and local sites in the North Central Rockies forests: A wide range of parks and public lands are found in the North Central Rockies forests. The following lists are not all inclusive and many state and provincial forests and trust lands are not included. The public lands listed here were ones that … More North Central Rockies forests Part G Local State and Provincial Sites
North Central Rockies Forests, Part F—Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas, and Refuges Wild and Scenic River System in North Central Rockies Forests (NA 518) There are three units of the national wild and scenic river system in the North Central Rockies forest ecoregion, including six segments of rivers. The wild and scenic river designation … More Wild Rivers, Wilderness Areas and Refuges in the North Central Rockies Forests
The National Trail System in the North Central Rockies forests include three national scenic trails (NSTs) and two national historic trails (NHTs). There are 45 National Recreation Trails. The Continental Divide NST traverses the North Central Rockies forests with sections maintained by the Deerlodge National Forest (NF), Helena NF, Lewis and Clark NF, Blackfeet Indian Reservation … More National Trail System in North Central Rockies Forests
The review of the national forest system of the North Central Rockies forests concludes with highlights of the Selkirk Range in Idaho and Washington. The areas described are the Colville NF, Kaniksu NF (one of the Idaho Panhandle national forests), and Priest River Experimental Forest. The post continues with a description of national park system … More North Central Rockies Forests, Part D: forests, parks and reservoirs
The Clearwater and Bitterroot Ranges are found along the Montana-Idaho border and include extensive wilderness areas. However, outside of the wildernesses are a number of special features, described in this post, Part C of the North Central Rockies ecoregion. Bitterroot National Forest (NF), Idaho-Montana is 1.6 million acres on both sides of the north-south trending … More North Central Rockies Part C: National Forests of the Clearwater-Bitterroot Ranges
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