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Flora

Because the area ranges in elevation from 6,229 feet at lake level to 10,881 feet at the summit of Freel Peak, you can expect to encounter a wide range of flora on trails within the Tahoe Basin. The mountains and hills surrounding the beautiful shoreline of Lake Tahoe are carpeted with conifers. Though it’s hard to believe at first glance, these trees belong almost exclusively to a second-growth forest, as the basin was nearly denuded to provide timber and fuel for Virginia City and the surrounding mines during the heyday of the Comstock Lode. Though the varied vegetation defies strict classification, the following zones provide a general overview of Tahoe’s flora.

The upper montane zone, the largest zone in the basin and containing the widest variety of plant types, runs from lake level to about 8,000 feet. The upper montane zone can be grouped into six distinct divisions. Up to around 7,000 feet, the white fir forest is named for the dominant member of a mixed forest, which also includes incense cedar, sugar pine, Jeffrey pine, and ponderosa pine, as well as red fir at the upper limits. Preferring a moist habitat, the white fir forest can form dense stands with little ground cover, or more open stands allowing deciduous trees and shrubs to thrive, including quaking aspen, willow, maple, currant, gooseberry, thimbleberry, and honeysuckle. Above the white fir forest, the red fir forest extends to about 8,500 feet. Unlike the white fir forest, red fir is found in exclusive stands, usually on cool northern or eastern exposures. The red fir forest is generally dense, allowing very little ground cover, which when present is composed primarily of shade-loving flowers and plants. The Jeffrey pine forest occupies drier slopes than those preferred by the white and red fir forests. Spanning elevations from lake level to approximately 8,000 feet, open Jeffrey pine forests intermix in the lower realms with sugar pine, ponderosa pine, white fir, and incense cedar. Those conifers are replaced by western white pine, ponderosa pine, and red fir toward the upper limits.