The Alaska Peninsula montane taiga ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

, in the Taiga and Boreal forests

Taiga

Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...

 Biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

, located in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.

Setting

This ecoregion is a mountainous area of ridges up to 1200m between high volcanic peaks up to 2500m, located on the southern, Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 side of the Alaska Peninsula

Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....

 from Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage....

 west through the Kodiak Archipelago

Kodiak Archipelago

The Kodiak Archipelago is an archipelago, or group of islands, south of main land mass of the state of Alaska , about by air south of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Island, the second largest island in the United States...

 to Unimak Island

Unimak Island

Unimak Island is the largest island in the Aleutian Islands chain of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the easternmost island in the Aleutians and, with an area of 1,571.41 mi² , the ninth largest island in the United States and the 134th largest island in the world. It is home to Mount...

 at the beginning of the Aleutian Islands chain, while the area around Cook Inlet at the head of the peninsula is the neighbouring Cook Inlet taiga

Cook Inlet taiga

The Cook Inlet taiga ecoregion, in the Taiga and Boreal forests Biome, is located in Alaska.-Setting:This ecoregion is located around the upper Cook Inlet on the south-central coast of Alaska, sheltered by mountains on all sides...

 ecoregion.

The area has a coastal climate of high rainfall (up to 4000mm) and warm temperatures.

Flora

The mountainsides are covered with scrubby vegetation, the higher slopes by low scrub such as black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum is a species of crowberry known as black crowberry which is native to most northern areas of the northern hemisphere, as well as the Falkland Islands in the southern hemisphere....

) and other ericas (Vaccinium

Vaccinium

Vaccinium is a genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae. The fruit of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, lingonberry or cowberry, and huckleberry...

)s, the tiny arctic willow (Salix arctica) and white mountain avens (Dryas octopetala

Dryas octopetala

Dryas octopetala is an arctic-alpine flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is a small prostrate evergreen subshrub forming large colonies, and is a popular flower in rock gardens...

) while the lower slopes have various willow trees among the shrubs and the low coastal plains have tall green alder (Alnus viridis sinuata) and willow trees with balsam poplars (Populus balsamifera

Populus balsamifera

Populus balsamifera, commonly called balsam poplar, bamtree, eastern balsam poplar, hackmatack, tacamahac poplar, tacamahaca,...

) in the warmer and wetter areas.

Fauna

This region is known for its large populations of bears that feed on the salmon in the McNeil River

McNeil River

The McNeil River is a river on the eastern drainage of the Alaska Peninsula near its base and conjunction with the Alaska mainland. Its entire length of 35 miles lies within the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, created in 1967 by the State of Alaska to protect the numerous Alaska brown bears who...

 and other rivers of Alaska. Bears found here include the huge Kodiak Bear

Kodiak Bear

The Kodiak bear , also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear.- Taxonomy :Taxonomist C.H...

 subspecies of Brown Bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

 of Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an...

 and other mammals include caribou (Rangifer tarandus), moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

 (Alces alces), Arctic ground squirrel

Arctic Ground Squirrel

The Arctic ground squirrel is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic.-Subspecies:Listed alphabetically.*S. p. ablusus Osgood, 1903...

 (Spermophilus parryii) and Alaskan Hare

Alaskan Hare

The Alaskan Hare is a species of mammal in the Leporidae family. It is found in the open tundra of western Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in the United States....

 (Lepus othus). Birds of the area include migrating Snow Goose

Snow Goose

The Snow Goose , also known as the Blue Goose, is a North American species of goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The genus of this bird is disputed...

 and other waterbirds, and breeding colonies of birds such as the Tufted Puffin

Tufted Puffin

The Tufted Puffin also known as Crested Puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family found throughout the North Pacific Ocean....

s, murres and Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar

The Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, Fulmar, or Arctic Fulmar is a highly abundant sea bird found primarily in subarctic regions of the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans. Fulmars come in one of two color morphs: a light one which is almost entirely white, and a dark one which is...

s of Unimak Island

Unimak Island

Unimak Island is the largest island in the Aleutian Islands chain of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the easternmost island in the Aleutians and, with an area of 1,571.41 mi² , the ninth largest island in the United States and the 134th largest island in the world. It is home to Mount...

, Stepovak Bay

Stepovak Bay

Stepovak Bay is a bay located on the Alaska Peninsula, Alaska, on the Gulf of Alaska. It is framed by the Stepovak Bay group of volcanoes, a chain of 5 cinder cone volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc. The volcanoes include Kupreanof and four numbered volcanoes .It was named Stepovakho Bay or Stepof's Bay...

 and the Semidi Islands

Semidi Islands

The Semidi Islands are a group of islands of the state of Alaska, USA, lying offshore in the Gulf of Alaska. The islands are part of Kodiak Island Borough and are located southwest of Kodiak Island, about half way between the Alaska Peninsula mainland and Chirikof Island. The largest islands of the...

.

Threats and preservation

The natural habitat of these mountains is in pristine condition with fishing the main activity of the people. Hunting and fishing do reduce wildlife populations. Protected areas include; Katmai National Park, home to large numbers of bears, Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska whose use is regulated as an ecological-protection measure. It stretches along the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge on its east and...

, the small Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the smallest of the National Wildlife Refuges located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies on the northwest coastal side of central Aleutians East Borough. Most of the refuge was designated as Wilderness in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands...

, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in the Kodiak Archipelago in southwestern Alaska, United States....

, Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. National Monument and National Preserve, consisting of the region around the Aniakchak volcano on the Aleutian Range of south-western Alaska....

, Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, which covers an area of , was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds,...

and the entire length of the McNeil River.