The Alberta Mountain forests are a temperate coniferous forests

Temperate coniferous forests

Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome found in temperate regions of the world with warm summers and cool winters and adequate rainfall to sustain a forest. In most temperate coniferous forests, evergreen conifers predominate, while some are a mix of conifers and broadleaf evergreen...

 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...

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Setting

This ecoregion covers the grand Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

 including the eastern outliers of the Continental Ranges

Continental Ranges

The Continental Ranges is a name for a major grouping of mountain ranges in the Rocky Mountains located in eastern British Columbia and western Alberta...

. Located almost entirely in Alberta and taking in the Alberta-British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 border from Banff

Banff, Alberta

Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....

 north to Jasper, Alberta

Jasper, Alberta

Jasper is a specialized municipality in western Alberta, Canada. It is the commercial centre of Jasper National Park, located in the Canadian Rockies in the Athabasca River valley....

 and Kakwa Wildlands Park

Kakwa Wildlands Park

Kakwa Wildlands Park is a provincial park in the Rocky Mountain Foothills just east of the northern Canadian Rockies, in Alberta, Canada,, immediately east of the border with British Columbia at the 120th meridian west....

. This is an area of glaciers and high mountains covered with a forest of tall trees. The highest points are the mountains around the Columbia Icefield

Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield is an icefield located in the Canadian Rockies, astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 km² in area, 100 to 365 metres in depth and...

 the largest ice field

Ice field

An ice field is an area less than 50,000 km² of ice often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation. It is an extensive area of interconnected valley glaciers from which the higher peaks rise as nunataks...

 in the Rockies.

The mountain valleys have a mild climate with warm, dry summers and snowy winters but the high mountain sides have a harsher climate. Average summer temperatures are 12°C going down to -7°C in winter.

Flora

Trees include aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

, Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...

, Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa).

Fauna

These mountains are home to good numbers of large mammals including elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

 ((Cervus elaphus) which graze on the aspen bark, 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...

, Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn Sheep

The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to , while the sheep themselves weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae...

 (Ovis canadensis), mountain goat

Mountain goat

The Mountain Goat , also known as the Rocky Mountain Goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus of true goats...

 (Oreamnos americanus), black-tailed deer

Black-tailed Deer

Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer occupying coastal temperate rainforest on North America's Pacific coast are subspecies of the mule deer. They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies...

 (Odocoileus hemionus), reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

 (Rangifer tarandus), Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

 (Ursus arctos), American Black Bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

 (black bear (Ursus americanus), cougar and Gray Wolf

Gray Wolf

The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...

 (Canis lupus). Other wildlife is much smaller including the American Pygmy Shrew and the Banff Springs snail

Banff Springs snail

The Banff Springs snail, scientific name Physella johnsoni, is a species of small air-breathing freshwater snail in the family Physidae....

 which is endemic to Banff National Park

Banff National Park

Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park, located 110–180 kilometres west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine...

. Birds include Townsend's warbler

Townsend's Warbler

The Townsend's Warbler, Dendroica townsendi, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have a yellow face with a black stripe across their cheeks, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly...

, veery

Veery

The Veery, Catharus fuscescens, is a small thrush species. It is occasionally called Willow Thrush or Wilson's Thrush. It is a member of a close-knit group of migrant Catharus species, which also includes the cryptotaxa Grey-cheeked Thrush and Bicknell's Thrush The Veery, Catharus fuscescens, is a...

 and bald eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

.

Threats and preservation

80% of these forests are intact although some is being removed for urban development and tourism in the valley areas. Large areas of natural habitat remain in Banff National Park, Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park

Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, north of Banff National Park and west of the City of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and...

, Kakwa Wildlands, Willmore Wilderness Park

Willmore Wilderness Park

Willmore Wilderness Park, located in Alberta, Canada, is a 4,600 square kilometre wilderness area adjacent to the world famous Jasper National Park...

, Bugaboo Provincial Park

Bugaboo Provincial Park

Bugaboo Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located in the central Purcell Mountains.The park is known primarily for the Bugaboos, a formation of mountains that attracts climbers and type:mountaineers, and for the Conrad Kain hut, an alpine hut managed by the Alpine...

 and Ghost River Wilderness Area.

This ecozone corresponds to the human region called Alberta's Rockies

Alberta's Rockies

Alberta's Rockies comprises the Canadian Rockies in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is a region on the southwestern part of the province, along the British Columbia border. It covers all but the south of Census Division 15....

.