Tiny hamlets with whimsical names like Hayfork, Honeydew, Ferndale, and Happy Camp capture the rustic, pastoral nature of this bioregion and its people. These hushed forests of towering giants and damp, fern-covered floors possess the ethereal splendor and serenity of a cathedral. They are home to the endangered marbled murrelet, a seabird that nests in old-growth, and the threatened northern spotted owl, whose decline prompted severe reductions in federal timber harvest sales to preserve its habitat. Listing of the owl under the federal Endangered Species Act and other 1990s economic impacts upon the once-booming timber industry forced closure of many sawmills and dislocation of workers. Traditionally timber-dependent communities, forced to diversify their economies, are encouraging the growth of tourism, improving infrastructure, and seeking ways to attract and accommodate new businesses.
Cattle ranching, dairy farming, and fishing are popular traditional industries of the bioregion.
This mountainous bioregion includes the North Coast Range and the Klamath, Siskiyou, Marble, Salmon, Trinity, and Cascade mountains. The coastal climate is cool, moist, and often foggy, with rainy winters at lower elevations and snow in the higher mountains. Inland the climate is drier with low rainfall in winter and hot, dry summers. Major rivers include the Eel, Trinity, Klamath, Russian, Smith, Salmon, Scott, Mad, and Mattole, which flows into the Pacific Ocean near seismically active Cape Mendocino. Clear Lake, Whiskeytown Lake, Clair Engle, and the western part of Shasta are the largest lakes in the bioregion.