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Maritime coast range ponderosa pine forest

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The maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests, also known as the ponderosa sand parkland and ponderosa pine sandhills are a rare temperate forest assemblage with a very limited range in a portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains of north central coastal California. There are only two known occurrences of this type, all situated in Santa Cruz County, California. The dominant tree species is the ponderosa pine.

Description

This sparse forest type thrives on very sandy Zayante soils that are isolated pockets of decomposing sandstone from the Miocene terraces of the coastal range. These forests are deemed to be relicts of once larger expanses found when this region was geologically even younger, and hence had more evidence of the sandstone erosion of the ancient uplifted ocean floor.

One of these three forests is located atop a ridge that straddles the Carbonera Creek and Zayante Creek watersheds[1] of Santa Cruz County, California within the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The forest in the Carbonera Creek watershed is also home to two endemic insects whose narrow range is closely associated with the maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests.[2][3][4][5]

See also

References

  1. ^ USGS Quadrangle Map, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1980).
  2. ^ USFWS. Determination of endangered status for two insects from the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Federal Register January 24, 1997.
  3. ^ "Plant Communities". Santa Cruz County California Native Plant Society.
  4. ^ "The Santa Cruz Sandhills". Sandhills Alliance for Natural Diversity.
  5. ^ Griffin, James R. (April 1, 1964). "Isolated Pinus Ponderosa Forests on Sandy Soils near Santa Cruz, California". Ecology. 45 (2): 410–412.

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