Vegetation and Soil
VegetationBeing on the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Maritime's climate allows for tall coniferous trees to grow in lush rainforests. The five major forests in Pacific Maritime are the Western Hemlock forests, Mountain Hemlock forests, Douglas fir forests and the Arbutus and Garry Oak woodland forest.
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SoilThe soil in the Pacific Maritime ecozone has a lot of nutrients and is very crucial for all the the vegetation, especially the trees. The soil contains a lot of humus which is a big part in tree growth. However as you go up higher in elevation the soil has less nutrients and contains less humus (About 900 meters high).
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5 Major Forests
Western Hemlock
The Western Hemlock Forest runs through Alberta, British Columbia, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California. This forest contains a lot of shrubs, ferns, vines, berries (black), mushrooms. There are also some trees growing in this area such as the birch, hemlock, red cedar and many more other trees. The wildlife is amazing in the Western Hemlock Forest as there are many strong and ferocious animals living in the forest, such as the cougar and grizzly bears and black bears too. Mountain Hemlock Forest
The Mountain Hemlock Forest run through the entire British Columbia coast, extends north in Alaska and also extends south along the coast of Washington and Oregon. The forest has very short summer but very long and cold winters. It annually gets 5000 mm of precipitation. Since the summers are very short and the winters are very long and cold, the growing season is short as well, because of the cold and snow. Douglas Fir forest
The Douglas Fir forest is located near the coast of British Columbia, and goes through the southern parts of Chilcotin and Cariboo. This forest has many varied trees, but the most common tree is the Douglas fir tree, which is named after David Douglas. These trees can grow up to 20-100 meters tall. The soil is very nutrient for the trees, hence they are tall. Arbutus and Garry Oak Woodland Forest
The Arbutus and Garry Oak Woodland Forest are very similar with the sense that they both have a lot of oak trees. One very popular oak tree is the Garry Oak tree. These trees can grow up to 50 meters. In California these trees are named after Nicholas Garry. |