The ecoregion covers the eastern (leeward) slope of the Cascade Range. It begins near the Yakima River in Washington state and extends in a narrow north-south band south through Oregon to California, ending short of the Sierra Nevada Range.
Description of the Ecoregion
A detailed description of the ecoregion can be found at WWF’s site (the map above is a screen shot from that Wildfinder site). There may also be additional information to be found on this ecoregion’s page at Wikipedia.
Briefly, the ecoregion is characterized by… [under construction]
At least in Washington, the extent of this ecoregion is somewhat the same as the EPA’s “East Cascades Ecoregion”, as mapped at Bird Web of the Seattle Audubon Society (SAS). The EPA version however extends further north into what WWF classifies as the Cascade Mountains Leeward Forests. Approximately the southern three quarters of the EPA version corresponds to the WWF ecoregion.
Birds of the Ecoregion
The avifauna of the ecoregion… [under construction].
The Seattle Audubon site includes an excellent guide to the main birding sites of the ecoregion in Washington and a detailed month by month listing of all the bird species to be expected. Since however the ecoregion definitions are somewhat different, the list of sites and the bird list will not be exactly appropriate for the WWF ecoregion.
Resources for the Ecoregion Birder
Without any pretense to completeness, the following resources have caught my attention and would be of value to the birder traveling to this ecoregion:
- Seattle Aubudon Society’s Bird Web is a terrific resource for Washington state (see also above).