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Description: |
The Montane
Spruce Zone occupies a narrow, mid-elevation
band in the mountains and plateaus of the
dry southern interior of British Columbia.
Although the zone is mostly forested, in
some areas it contains numerous lakes, wetlands,
and meadows. The zone's extensive lodgepole
pine forests are an important economic resource,
and its climate of cool, dry summers and
cold winters makes it a popular area for
recreational activities such as hunting,
camping, fishing, skiing, and hiking.
The Montane Spruce Zone lies nestled
between the high-elevation subalpine forests
of spruce and subalpine fir and the lower-elevation
forests of Douglas-fir or lodge-pole pine
in the province's dry southern interior.
The zone normally occupies a relatively
narrow elevational band of about 300–400
m. In some areas, though, the zone is rather
widespread because the prevailing elevation
of the plateaus is in this elevational band.
In wetter climatic areas, it occurs at elevations
of about 1100–1500 m, and in drier areas
at about 1250–1650 m. The Montane Spruce
Zone extends from the Fraser Plateau south
to northern Washington, Idaho, and Montana,
and east to Alberta. It occurs on the broad,
rising plateau that surrounds the Itcha
and Ilgachuz mountains, the Southern Interior
Plateau in the Fraser, Thompson, and Okanagan
areas, on the lee side of the Coast and
Cascade mountains, and in the southern Rocky
Mountains and the Rocky Mountain Trench.
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