Northern California coastal forests


The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California, USA.

Setting

The ecoregion covers, extending from just north of the California-Oregon border south, to southern Monterey County. The ecoregion rarely extends more than 65 km inland from the coast, narrower in the southernmost parts of the ecoregion.
The ecoregion is a sub-ecoregion of the Pacific temperate rain forests ecoregion, which extends up the Pacific Coast to Kodiak Island in Alaska. The ecoregion lies close to the Pacific Ocean, and is kept moist by Pacific Ocean storms during the winter months, and by coastal fogs in the summer months. These factors keep the ecoregion cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, as compared to ecoregions further inland. The ecoregion is also defined by the distribution of the Coast Redwood, with isolated groves located in protected canyons as far south as Redwood Gulch, in southern Monterey County.
The greatest concentration of remaining Old-growth forest are in the northernmost portion of the ecoregion, primarily within Humboldt and Del Norte Counties

Habitats

Redwood forests are interspersed with several other plant communities throughout this ecoregion.

Coastal redwood forests

The dominant forest type in this ecoregion is the coastal redwood forest. These are the tallest forests on Earth, with individual redwood trees reaching heights of. These forests are generally found in areas exposed to coastal fog. In the north, they occur on upland slopes, in riparian zones, and on riverine terraces. In the south, where annual precipitation is lower, they are constrained to coves and ravines. Coast Douglas-firs are nearly always associated with redwoods, but in the north the forests can also include Sitka spruce and western hemlock. Like coast Douglas-fir, tanoak is often present. Other hardwoods include California bay laurel, red alder, madrone, and bigleaf maple. The deep shade cast by redwoods often results in a sparse understory, but shade-tolerant species include thimbleberry, redwood sorrel, elk clover, dwarf Oregon grape, salal, and many ferns, such as deer fern, sword fern, and leathery polypody.

Mixed evergreen forests

s are found just inland of the redwood forests, on Franciscan Assemblage soils that receive moderate to high rainfall. The trees are a variety of needle-leaved and broad-leaved evergreen species. Characteristic trees include coast Douglas-fir, canyon live oak, tanoak, madrone, California bay laurel, and golden chinquapin. The shrub understory is dense and diverse; beaked hazel, evergreen huckleberry, Pacific rhododendron, salal, Sadler's oak, dwarf Oregon-grape, and poison oak are typically found.

Closed-cone conifer forests and woodlands

s are found in small, scattered patches throughout the ecoregion, typically adjacent to maritime chaparral. Common pines are lodgepole pine, bishop pine, Monterey pine, and knobcone pine. These forests are also home to several endemic cypresses, including Monterey cypress, Gowen cypress, and Santa Cruz cypress. Shrub species include glossyleaf manzanita, bog Labrador tea, evergreen huckleberry, salal, Pacific rhododendron, and California bayberry. Soil conditions sometimes cause these forests to take on a pygmy form. Lichens and mosses are both abundant and diverse.

Maritime chaparral

Maritime chaparral is composed of a variety of shrubs that grow in the fog belt. Endemic species of manzanita and Ceanothus are locally common. Manzanita species include woolyleaf manzanita, glossyleaf manzanita, Hooker's manzanita, pajaro manzanita, Montara manzanita, and others. Gasquet manzanita occurs in southern Oregon. Among Ceanothus, hairy ceanothus is common, while Mason's ceanothus, Carmel ceanothus, and wart-stem ceanothus are local endemics. Other widespread shrubs and trees include chamise, California buckwheat, black sage, coffeeberry, buckthorn, and coast live oak. This habitat is often found near closed-cone conifer forests and woodlands.

Coastal grassland

, or coastal prairies, are generally found below on coastal terraces or mountain balds. In areas where fire has been suppressed, coastal scrub plants invade. Common grasses include bentgrass, California brome, Nootka reedgrass, California oatgrass, red fescue, Idaho fescue, tufted hair-grass, prairie Junegrass, tall trisetuem. Common forbs include Douglas iris, western blue-eyed grass, hairy gumplant, and footsteps of spring.

Coastal scrub

consists of shrublands found at elevations below on bluffs, terraces, dunes, and hills near the coast. This habitat is often subject to wind and maritime fog. The shrubs are mostly evergreen, small-leaved, and sclerophyllous. Characteristic species include coyote brush, yellow bush lupine, blueblossom, seaside woolly sunflower, sticky monkey-flower, poison oak, California blackberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, coffeeberry, oceanspray, salal, cow parsnip, and western sword fern. Coastal grassland succeeds to coastal scrub in the absence of fire, and coastal scrub succeeds to mixed evergreen forest under further absence of fire.

Riparian woodlands and shrublands

Riparian woodlands and shrublands are a mosaic of tree-dominated plant communities and open shrublands found along rivers. Species composition varies with elevation, slope, floodplain width, and flooding history. Nevertheless, common trees include white alder, red alder, box elder, Fremont cottonwood, red willow, coast Douglas-fir, California sycamore, coast live oak, and bigleaf maple. Common shrubs include sandbar willow and arroyo willow.

Live oak woodlands and savannas

Live oak woodlands and savannas are dominated by coast live oak. Canopy cover varies from dense forest to open savannas. In forests, California blackberry, creeping snowberry, toyon, and poison oak are common in the understory.

Ponderosa pine forests

Some of the rarest forests that occurs in this coastal region are the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests, an example of which occurs in the Carbonera Creek watershed of Santa Cruz County, California.

Protected areas