| 6 Viewpoints: Major Vegetation Zone Classifications for Washington’s east-side Cascades: | |||||
| Watchable Wildflowers: A Columbia Basin Guide: B.L.M. | Woodland Park ZooWashington Wildlife | Plants of Southern Interior B.C. & the Inland NW: edited by Parish, Coupe Lloyd | Birds of Yakima County: Andrew Stepniewski | Celebrating WildflowersNorth Cascades Institute | Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary: Ronald J.Taylor |
| Eastern Washington’s Columbia Basin in the rainshadow of the Cascades is characterized by harsh extremes of weather & climate, with 4 major habitats. In each, plants grow in communities, all sharing similar needs and adaptations to their environment. | Washington state is divided into 5 habitat regions (steppe, montane, temperate forest, wetlands, and urban). Within each habitat, similar climatic and geologic characteristics and species of plants & animals exist. | Southern Interior British Columbia & adjoining U.S. states: The authors divided the region into 5 broad vegetation zones to simplify plant distribution descriptions | Yakima County’s diversity of habitats between the crest of the Cascades and the Columbia River, with a complex mosaic of forested, non-forested, wetland, agricultural, and urban habitats. | Washington state is divided into 8 major ecosystems defined as: living communities and the nonliving environment functioning together, including abiotic substances, producers, consumers, and decomposers. | The sagebrush steppe and the Great Basin sagebrush desert, including parts of 9 western states, including eastern Washington. 6 generalized ecological zones exist within this given area where vegetation follows a pattern of distribution determined in large part, due to physical & chemical properties of soil. |
| shrub-steppe (deep soil) | sagebrush steppe (or shrub-steppe) | big sage shrub-steppe | shrub-steppe zone(includes lands converted to agriculture) | grassland/sagebrush steppe: deep soil | sagebrush-steppe: standard-type zone, characterized by lack of extremes, moderately deep soils, and most extensively lost habitat due to agriculture. |
| lithosol (rock-soil) | (not addressed) | (not addressed) | (not addressed) | grassland/sagebrush steppe: lithosol | sagebrush-steppe: lithosol zone (with shallow basalt bedrock soils) |
| talus (unstable slopes of rock outcrops and rocks of all sizes | (not addressed) | (not addressed) | talus and cliffs zone(includes along Columbia River) | (not addressed) | sagebrush-steppe: talus zone (rocky outcrops, hills, & canyons, often unstable slopes) |
| riparian: along creeks, lakes, & seeps | riparian woodlands | broadleaf deciduous forests | riparian zone (along valley or creek bottoms; along lake and marsh margins | grassland/sagebrush steppe: riparian | sagebrush-steppe: meadow zone (in depressions & wet year-round) |
| (not addressed) | steppe (canopy of shrubs absent) | grasslands | (not addressed) | (not addressed) | (not addressed) |
| (not addressed)
A37
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low-elevation temperate forest (1,800-3,000 ft.) | dry forests | ponderosa pine zone | eastside low montane forest(generally between 1,800-3,000 ft.) | (not addressed) |
| (not addressed) | montane forest (3000-6000 ft.) | wet montane forest | mixed-conifer zone | eastside high montane forest(4,000-6,000 ft.) | (not addressed) |
| (not addressed) | subalpine (>6,000 ft. to treeline) | subalpine forests | subalpine | subalpine: tree islands and meadows (above the closed forest canopy) | (not addressed) |
| (not addressed) | alpine (above treeline.) | alpine meadows, rocklands, and heaths | alpine (treeless) | alpine (above the limit of permanent tree growth) | (not addressed) |
| (not addressed) | freshwater welands: marsh, swamp, bog, riparian woodlands | freshwater wetlands: fens, marshes, bogs, meadows, and shrub-carrs (tall shrubs) | irrigated agriculture lands: human converted | freshwater wetlands: pond, marsh, bog | sagebrush-steppe: meadow zone ( moister areas that typically occupy depressions ) |
| (not addressed) | (not addressed) | (not addressed) | alkaline flats (extensively human modified) | (not addressed) | sagebrush-steppe: salinezone (seasonally wet & in areas of low precipitation where mineral salts have accumulated on the soil surface) |
| sagebrush-steppe: sand dune | |||||
Cultivating awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the Wenatchee River region