The Inner Coast Ranges are an extensive mountain range within California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the USA. In Northern California

Northern California

Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

 the ranges can be characterized as a mountainous landform

Landform

A landform or physical feature in the earth sciences and geology sub-fields, comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography...

 from near Anderson, California

Anderson, California

Anderson is a city in Shasta County, California, USA, approximately 10 miles south of Redding. The population was 9,932 at the 2010 census, up from 9,022 at the 2000 census....

 south along the east slope of the North Coast Ranges, around the south end of the High North Coast Ranges to west of the Russian River (California)

Russian River (California)

The Russian River, a southward-flowing river, drains of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately , it is the second largest river flowing through the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area with a mainstem 110 miles ...

. The term inner is a reference to the greater distance of the ranges from the Pacific Ocean, compared to the outer ranges that are nearer to that ocean.

Ecology

Willis Linn Jepson

Willis Linn Jepson

Willis Linn Jepson is known as California's most distinguished early botanist. He became interested in botany as a boy and explored adjacent regions. He had come in contact with various botanists before he entered college...

 was one of the first to describe the flora of the Inner North Coast Ranges. Jepson notes the presence of Yellow Pine

Yellow pine

Yellow pine may refer to the following:*Certain pines in the subgenus Pinus subgenus Pinus:**In American forestry, a term for several closely related species of pine with yellow tinted wood, including the Southern Yellow Pines , and the non-Southern yellow pines and several others...

 and Sugar Pine

Sugar Pine

Pinus lambertiana, commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine, is the tallest and most massive pine, with the longest cones of any conifer...

 species. Ecosystems within the Inner Coast Ranges include California oak woodland

California oak woodland

California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...

, chaparral

Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

, oak savanna

Oak savanna

An oak savanna is a type of savanna, or lightly forested grassland, where oaks are the dominant tree species. These savannas were maintained historically through wildfires set by lightning, grazing, low precipitation, poor soil, and/or fires set by Native Americans...

 and grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

. Dominant oak trees include Quercus agrifolia and Quercus douglasii. In the southern elements of the Inner Coast Ranges the hybrid oak Quercus alvordiana occurs from Carmel Valley

Carmel Valley

The Carmel Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Monterey County, California, east of Carmel-by-the-Sea. The AVA is home to a number of wineries and vineyards, as well as the town of Carmel Valley Village...

 to the Tehachapi Mountains

Tehachapi Mountains

The Tehachapi Mountains , regionally also called The Tehachapis, are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States...

.

See also

• California Coast Ranges index
• Flora of California