What makes up the pacific ranges

The southern reaches of these ranges are more similar to the other ranges of the American west, with dry, open forests rising from dry desert plains. Map of Pacific Ranges Click on red triangle icons for links to other ranges.

Note: Range borders shown on map are an approximation and are not authoritative. Click Here for a Full Screen Map. Peak Lists. Log In. Other Ranges: To go to pages for other ranges either click on the map above, or on range names in the hierarchy snapshot below, which show the parent, siblings, and children of the Pacific Ranges. Coast Ranges. Sub-peaks are excluded from this list. List may not be complete, since only summits in the PBC Database are included.

Mount Rainier The massive, icy form of Mount Rainier in the classic view from the Paradise Inn area on the south side of the mountain Mount Williamson Mt. Williamson and the North fork of Bairs Creek from Highway For example, the PNW not only has mountains, but it has one of the tallest mountains in the contiguous U.

It has one of the wettest ecosystems rainforest and one of the driest desert , then somewhere between those two are bustling, major cities. Salmon, Dungeness crab, spot prawns and a variety of clams are very much identified with the cuisine of the Pacific Northwest, and it also draws heavily on the strong First Nations presence in the region. Clams are available year-round for farmers.

Wild varieties are available from October through June. A design rooted and influenced by the climate of the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest style home aims to bring the outdoors in.

Northwest Regional style architecture is an architectural style popular in the Pacific Northwest between and It is a regional variant of the International style.

It is defined by the extensive use of unpainted wood in both interiors and exteriors. The Vancouver Metropolitan area is just to the south while the world-famous resort town of Whistler is within the Pacific Ranges.

The rocks of the Coast Mountains started forming from magma intrusions and layers of marine sediment during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Island belts that were too large to subduct under North America were accreted i.

The Foreland Belt is the terrane that formed the Continental Divide, followed by the Omineca and Intermontane belts to the west.

They were followed by the Coast Mountains , starting about million years ago when the Insular terrane was colliding with the west coast. As the Insular and Farallon Plates subducted off the west coast, it created a volcanic belt within the Pacific Ranges.

After the formation of the Western Cordillera, glaciers started forming about 2 million years ago, and there were several periods during the Pleistocene in which the west coast was covered in thousands of meters of ice.

The fjords that dissect and indent the west coast were created from preglacial drainage lines that were further carved out by glaciers. The glaciers also created cirques throughout the Pacific Ranges and as the glaciers receded, they left behind evidence of their passing as moraines, eskers, and kames. The highest elevations are part of the Alpine Tundra Zone, which, along the coast, is typically communities of heather on otherwise barren peaks.

The tree line is a mosaic of meadows and scattered trees that become a dense forest at lower elevations. The climax trees of this ecozone are western hemlock and amabilis fir; however, the old growth forests contain some of the western giants.

Douglas fir grows to nearly m ft tall in the old growth forests and giant red cedars can reach 4 m 13 ft in diameter. The old growth forest provides habitat for many animal species.