Natural History of the Southern Sierra Nevada
The southern Sierra Nevada is
the backbone of California in the middle of the state and separates cismontane
or western California at the crest of the range from the transmontane or
eastern Great Basin and Mojave Desert. The region is at the intersection of
three of North America’s ten floristic provinces: 1) Californian Floristic
Province, 2) Mojave Subprovince of the Sonoran Desert Floristic Province, 3)
Great Basin Desert Floristic Province. This assemblage is unique to all of
North America.
This makes the Sierra Nevada one of
the most biologically diverse regions in North America, north of Mexico. The
region is also geologically diverse and relatively young in geological terms.
Several Native American nations
comprised the human population of the Sierra Nevada prior to the arrival of
European explorers and colonists. These claimed territories were taken first by
Mexico and then by the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Now much of the Sierra Nevada high
country is public land with private interests still holding claim to many
meadows, stream courses, and most of the valleys.
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