Laserfiche WebLink
1.3 Ecological Setting <br /> The climate of the region is characterized by cold winters and cool <br /> summers, with precipitation exceeding potential evapotranspiration. However , <br /> about half of the precipitation falls as snow, much of which is lost as <br /> runoff and therefore is not available to plants. <br /> The lowest elevations within the Coal Basin study area receive approxi— <br /> mately 20 inches of precipitation annually and have a mean annual temperature <br /> of about 400F. Highest elevations in the study area average about 10OF <br /> cooler annually and receive about 10 inches more precipitation. <br /> Vegetation zones or climax regions in the study area include lower mon— <br /> tane, upper montane, subalpine, and alpine, based on the classification <br /> scheme of Marr (1967) . These zones roughly correspond to the western spruce/ <br /> fir forest, pine/Douglas—fir forest , and alpine meadow potential natural <br /> vegetation areas as mapped by Kuchler (1975) and the montane forest , subalpine <br /> forest , and tundra wildlife communities as described by Hylander (1966) . <br /> Upper tree limit in the study area averages about 11,400 ft . <br /> —2— <br />