Arizona/New Mexico Mountains

Arizona/New Mexico Mountains

The Arizona/New Mexico Mountains are distinguished from neighboring mountainous ecoregions by their lower elevations and associated vegetation indicative of drier, warmer environments, due in part to the region’s more southerly location. Forests of spruce, fir, and Douglas-fir, common in the Southern Rockies and the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, are only found in limited areas at the highest elevations in this region. Chaparral is common at lower elevations in some areas, pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands are found at lower and middle elevations, and the higher elevations are mostly covered with open to dense ponderosa pine forests. These mountains are the northern extent of some Mexican plant and animal species. Surrounded by deserts or grasslands, these mountains in New Mexico can be considered biogeographical islands.

Flora:

The Chihuahuan Desert Slopes: Yucca, sotol, lechuguilla, ocotillo, and cacti now dominate the rocky slopes below 5500 feet. Grasslands persist near alluvial fans and on gentle slopes with deeper, sandstone-derived soils

The Madrean Lower Montane Woodlands: Alligator juniper, Madrean evergreen oak species, ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, or southwestern white pine, desert ceanothus, alderleaf mountain mahogany, and catclaw mimosa. In the west, the Gila River and tributaries have many endemic aquatic organisms including fish, amphibians, and insects.

The Montane Conifer Forests: Ponderosa pine, Gambel oak,mountain mahogany, serviceberry, Douglas-fir, southwestern white pine, white fir, blue spruce, silverleaf oak, netleaf oak, Arizona white oak, and Emory oak. Endemic Gila trout occur in some of the region’s streams.

The Arizona/New Mexico Subalpine Forests: Engelmann spruce, corkbark fir, blue spruce, white fir, aspen, and Douglas-fir.

The Conifer Woodlands and Savannas: Chaparral and Madrean oaks.

The Rocky Mountain Conifer Forests: White fir, Douglas-fir, Engelmann spruce, corkbark fir, blue spruce, white fir, aspen, and montane grassland.