California Floristic Province Forests-Endangered Forest
It will be a surprise to many that an area in the States is on the top 10 threatened list because we think that a developed world is more likely to take care of its natural treasures, but unfortunately that does not always happen. Home to the sequoia and the coastal redwood, it also houses the last of the wild condors, a critically endangered species. A number of animals have already gone extinct from the zone such as the Grizzly bear which is California’s state animal. At the moment only 10% of the forest is in pristine condition.
Stretching 293,804 km² from Southern Oregon, across California and Nevada, the California Floristic Province is home to over 8,000 plant species as well as thousands of endemic animal and insect species. Over 90% of the original ecosystem habitat has been destroyed due to urban sprawl and the commercial agriculture industry. Half of all agricultural products for U.S. consumers derive from this region creating enormous pressure on the fragile ecology of the forests in this region. The California Floristic Province is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The region contains a wide variety of ecosystems, including the lower altitude sagebrush steppe, prickly pear shrub lands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral and juniper-pine woodlands. The higher altitudes include upper Montane-subalpine forests, alpine forests, riparian forests, cypress forests, mixed evergreen forests, douglas fir forests, sequoia forests and redwood forests. Today only 10% of the original ecosystem remains in an almost pristine condition. The hot Mediterranean like climate of the California Floristic Province (CFP) provides the perfect environment for the world’s largest tree, the giant sequoia.
California Floristic Province
The California Floristic Province is one of 25 internationally recognized botanical hotspots with the most concentrated biological diversity and most severe threat of loss according to Conservation International. Point Reyes National Seashore is a jewel within the California Floristic Province, characterized by its Mediterranean climate.
The broad spectrum of aquatic and terrestrial communities within Point Reyes National Seashore are home to a breathtaking diversity of plants including 900 species of vascular plants (15% of California plants); 61 endemic plants (found nowhere else on the planet), and 51 rare, threatened, or endangered species. These plants do not exist in isolation, but rather as members of plant communities such as forests, grasslands, coastal scrub, intertidal zones/marshes and coastal dunes. The kind of plant community in a given area is determined by soil type, geology, fire, water availability, grazing, human use and development, and invasion by non-native species. Vegetation management in national parks focuses largely on monitoring and mapping plant communities with a special focus on rare plants and controlling invasive species.
The biggest threats to botanical hotspots are development and non-native or invasive species. While Point Reyes is federally protected from development, nearly 300 of the 900 plant species found here are non-native, with 30 species being the most invasive to the native landscape. To clarify, a plant that has been introduced (either intentionally or not) to a new geographical area is non-native, but not necessarily invasive. Invasive plant species display particular characteristics including fast growth, high seed production and rapid maturation that – when combined with a lack of the natural predators and diseases that help control them in their native environment – allow them to rapidly grow and spread, overwhelming and displacing native vegetation. These more aggressive species include but are not limited to: South African capeweed, ice plant, scotch broom, pampas grass and European beach grass. These species are most commonly seen in the pastoral zone where humans have historically altered the landscape and where seeds are blown around with the prevailing winds. Learn more about high priority invasive plant species for early detection in Point Reyes National Seashore here.
California Floristic Province Forests-Endangered Forest