Natural Resources
The Intermountain Region includes all of Nevada and Utah, southern
Idaho, western Wyoming and much smaller proportions of California
and Colorado. This area is very complex and has great variability
in topography, climate, geology and subsequent biota. For
example, it includes portions of 10 Physiographic Sections and 8 Ecoregions. Even
these classifications belie the actual complexity, because elevation
differences are not shown at the scale of the maps, of the Physiographic
Sections and Ecoregions.
Most National Forests within the Region are on mountains and plateaus
that stand well above the surrounding lowlands, valleys and plains. These
are sometimes referred to as “mountain islands”. Because
of this, and differences in geology, soils, climate and geography,
the plants on one mountain area may be very different from those
found on another nearby mountain . Roughly 60% of the Intermountain
Regions lands are forest and woodland vegetation with the other
40% mainly in shrubby and herbaceous vegetation.
Research Natural Areas
Research Natural Areas (RNA's) are
lands within the National Forest System that are permanently protected
as baseline areas to allow attainment of Potential Natural Condition
(PNC) for that location, conduct monitoring to measure changes from
PNC on surrounding managed lands, monitor rate of changes from PNC,
maintain biological diversity and foster education.
Colorado |Idaho | Nevada | Utah | Wyoming
|