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Map Satellite This large area, which includes Glass Mountain and McGee, Sawmill and Kelty meadows, contains a number of plant communities, including sagebrush scrub, ponderosa pine forest, lodgepole pine forest, pinyon-juniper woodland, subalpine forest (which includes a stand of whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, near the summit), aspen forest and meadows. Additionally, colonies of tobacco brush, Ceanothus velutinus, and Labrador tea, Ledum glandulosum, occur in this area.
Located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Sierran crest, this area is of exceptional interest for the several disjunct populations of Sierra taxa which occur here. These populations, isolated since the climate became warmer and drier after the last glacial period, are rich potential sources of information on speciation, interspecific competition, and other aspects of evolution. Many discoveries still remain to be made in the area.
Of note is a disjunct population of lodgepole pine, Pinus murrayana, in which there is a disjunct population of the lodgepole chipmunk, Eutamias speciosus, a species confined to the pine forest. The sage grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, is abundant here.
Though there is some granite, the area is primarily volcanic, with perlitic glass, obsidian, pumice and rhyolite the main rocks. The volcanics are of the Plio-Pleistocene era.
Integrity: Though there are a few dirt roads and some logging, the area is generally undisturbed, particularly in the more remote meadows. Use: Educational, research, light recreational.
April 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman
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