Wasatch and Uinta montane forests

Wasatch and Uinta montane forests
Coniferous forest with Kings Peak in the background, Uinta Mountains
Ecology
Biome	Temperate coniferous forest
Borders	Colorado Plateau shrublands, Wyoming Basin shrub steppe and Great Basin shrub steppe
Bird species	190
Mammal species	91
Geography
Area	41,500 km2 (16,000 sq mi)
Country	United States
States	Utah, Wyoming and Idaho
Conservation
Habitat loss	2.45%
Protected	68.9%

The Wasatch and Uinta montane forest is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion in the Wasatch Range and Uinta Mountains of the western Rocky Mountains system, in the Western United States.

This ecoregion is located almost entirely within the state of Utah, with a very small portion stretching north into southwestern Wyoming and southeastern Idaho. This ecoregion covers the driest ranges of the Rocky Mountains, in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada to the west.

The dominant vegetation type of this ecoregion is coniferous forest, composed mainly of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. glauca), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), with limited populations of limber pine (Pinus flexilis). This ecoregion is unique from other Rocky Mountain ecoregions in that large areas are dominated by Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii).

Mammals include mule deer (Odocoileus hemonius), elk (Cervus canadensis), moose (Alces alces), bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), black bear (Ursus americanus) and cougar (Puma concolor).