Maritime coast range ponderosa pine forest
The maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests are rare temperate forest assemblages associated with a limited range portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California. There are only three known small forests of this type, all situated in Santa Cruz County, California. The dominant tree species is the ponderosa pine.Description
This sparse forest type thrives on very sandy Zayante soils that are isolated pockets of decomposing sandstone from the Miocene terraces of the coastal range. These forests are deemed to be relicts of once larger expanses found when this region was geologically even younger, and hence had more evidence of the sandstone erosion of the ancient uplifted ocean floor.
One of these three forests is located atop a ridge that straddles the Carbonera Creek and Zayante Creek watersheds of Santa Cruz County, California within the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The forest in the Carbonera Creek watershed is also home to two endemic insects whose narrow range is closely associated with the maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests.
