Biodiversity in the Klamath Region

Landscape Diversity

Visiting the Klamath Region, you could be overwhelmed with the diverse landscapes there are to explore. The Klamath Region has a bit of everything. Where else can you view migrating gray whales or Aleutian geese from a fog-draped hillside, see rare endemic plants on serpentine soils, explore caves and lava tubes, and hike to the top of volcanoes all within a few miles of each other? Its aquatic habitats are also very diverse including sandy beaches and rocky intertidal zones along the coast, the deepest natural lake in the United States, and endless streams and rivers where you can fish or soak your feet after a long day of adventure. On land you can explore coastal redwood forests, or high alpine tundra, and everything in between. This diversity is a result of many factors including climate, topography (surface features), and geology.

Climate and Weather
The Klamath Region is a kaleidoscope of different climates and weather types throughout the year. The proximity of the Pacific Ocean and the topography of the area causes rain and snow to be more abundant in the west, and to decrease as you move further east. Also the sea has a big effect upon temperatures. Areas along or near the coast are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than areas farther east. This climatic variability allows for the rich diversity of plants that make the Klamath-Siskiyou Region famous. As you move east and up into the Klamath-Siskiyou and the Cascade Ranges winters are cold and snowy. While the winter storms sweep the lowlands from October to April, they are silently laying blanket after blanket of snow on the higher terrain. This snow pack stores up the previous winters moisture and releases it into the soils and rivers in the warm, dry summers that prevail in most of the region.

The unique climate of the Klamath coast is dominated by cool, moist fog that prevails through the summer months. Farther from the coast, beyond the reach of the cooling fog, dry, hot summers are the rule and you often long for a lake in which to cool yourself off. The Cascade Mountains collects large amounts of precipitation in the form of snow, sometimes staying on the ground all year around. The area east of the Cascades are dry and hot and you see a greater diversity of birds and reptiles that prefer warmer temperatures. Wherever you decide to explore in the Klamath region, you will not get bored because there is so much to see and so much to experience.

An Outreach and Education Project made possible by the National Park Service, Klamath Network Inventory and Monitoring and Southern Oregon University