page_title: Sierra Nevada
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Sierra Nevada / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Budd Creek at full flow, with the Tuolumne River rampaging behind, Fairview Dome on the left.
context_page_description: The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas.
  The Sierra runs 400 miles north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles across east-to-west. Notable Sierra features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft, the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils Postpile National Monument.
  More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground.
context_section_description: The Sierra Nevada is divided into a number of biotic zones, each of which is defined by its climate and supports a number of interdependent species. Life in the higher elevation zones adapted to colder weather, and to most of the precipitation falling as snow. The rain shadow of the Sierra causes the eastern slope to be warmer and drier: each life zone is higher in the east. A list of biotic zones, and corresponding elevations, is presented below:
  The western foothill zone, 1,000–2,500 ft (300–760 m), with grassland, oak-grass savanna and chaparral-oak woodland. North of Sequoia National Park, Gray pine (also known as digger pine) is intermixed with the oak woodland.
  The Pinyon pine-Juniper woodland, 5,000–7,000 ft (1,500–2,100 m) east side only.
  The Sierra Nevada lower montane forest (indicator species: Ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine), 2,500–7,000 ft (760–2,130 m) west side, 7,000–9,000 ft (2,100–2,700 m) east side. This biotic zone is notable for containing giant sequoia.
  The Sierra Nevada upper montane forest (indicator species: Lodgepole pine, Red fir) 7,000–9,000 ft (2,100–2,700 m) west side, 9,000–10,500 ft (2,700–3,200 m) east side.
  The Sierra Nevada subalpine zone (indicator species: Whitebark pine) 9,000–10,500 ft (2,700–3,200 m) west side, 10,500–11,500 ft (3,200–3,500 m) east side
  The alpine region at greater than 10,500 ft (3,200 m), and greater than 11,500 ft (3,500 m) east side.
caption: Tuolumne Meadows is an example of a subalpine meadow in the Sierra.
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