In addition, the Eastern Blue Ridge is more or less one continuous high ridge, while in the Western Blue Ridge the mountains tend to be in isolated groupings. Also, the Western Blue Ridge has a unique feature called the Murphy Syncline, a great trough stretching from the marble quarries near Tate through Ellijay to Blue Ridge, Georgia. This syncline is a long, low, straight pass through the mountains and the easiest major access to the valleys and Tennessee River tributaries lying north of the Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge enjoys a botanically rich mixture of temperate climate plants. North meets South in Georgia's mountains, with northern species mixing with their southern kin.
Many northern species are at their southern limits here.
The Southern Highlands contains the greatest mixture of temperate climate plants in the world, save eastern temperate Asia, located at about the same latitude. The Blue Ridge is generally part of the Appalachian flyway for birds, especially warblers, tanagers, thrushes, and vireos. Because the climate more resembles that of New Jersey than of Georgia, birds nest here that do not nest in the valleys below. These are all birds that nest in the North or in mountainous regions of the South. Most of the mountain forests managed by the Forest Service lie in the Western Blue Ridge and Eastern Blue Ridge, as do all of the wildernesses.