Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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REPTILES Western fence lizard, alligator lizard, western skink, gopher snake, common kingsnake, and western rattlesnake.

AMPHIBIANS Arboreal salamander, California newt, and western toad.

Mixed Evergreen Forest

The mixed evergreen forest is an extremely varied community, in which endemic, rare, isolated, or disjunct coniferous species grow amid a diverse array of hardwood trees. Member species include the Santa Lucia fir, Coulter pine, ponderosa pine, sugar pine, gray pine, Monterey pine, Douglas fir, and incense cedar.

Nestled along deep, dark canyon floors and atop the Santa Lucias’ dry, rocky slopes and summits lives the rarest, most distinct, and narrowly distributed of all fir species, the endemic Santa Lucia fir. They are easily identified by droopy, densely foliated crowns that extend from the base of the tree with lower branches that nearly touch the ground. The tree’s differing habitats share one characteristic: each is relatively fire resistant. Although the range is subject to periodic wildfires, the Santa Lucia fir is not fire adapted and cannot survive in areas susceptible to burning.