Colorado Rockies forests

Colorado Rockies forests
Spruce forest in the Colorado Rockies
Ecology
Biome	Temperate coniferous forest
Bird species	210
Mammal species	103
Geography
Country	United States
States	Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico
Conservation
Habitat loss	1.2653%
Protected	65.39%

The Colorado Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the United States.

This ecoregion is located in the highest ranges of the Rocky Mountains, in central and western Colorado, northern New Mexico and southeastern Wyoming, and experiences a dry continental climate.

The dominant vegetation type of this ecoregion is coniferous forest. In contrast with Rocky Mountain ecoregions to the north, lodgepole pine is rather rare, replaced by Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides). Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. glauca) and Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni) can also be found in the mountain forests. Bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata) is the dominant plant at the tree line/krummholz zone. Aside from coniferous forests, the ecoregion contains meadows, foothill grasslands, riparian woodlands and alpine tundra.

Mammals include elk (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemonius), black bear (Ursus americanus), wolverine (Gulo gulo), cougar (Puma concolor), lynx (Lynx canadensis), and American marten (Martes americana). Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horriblis) may exist in this region but there has not been a confirmed sighting of a grizzly in Colorado since 1979.