HARTMAN MULTIMEDIA
Nature Based Multimedia Information Systems
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HARTMAN MULTIMEDIA
Nature Based Multimedia Information Systems |
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San Gorgonio Wilderness Mount San Gorgonio, at 3,506 meters (11,502 feet), is
the highest peak in Southern California, and the area has floral and faunal
affinities with the Sierra Nevada and other mountainous areas to the north. The slopes of the mountain are heavily forested with
lodgepole and ponderosa pines, Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana and
Pinus ponderosa,
and white fir, Abies concolor. At
the higher elevations a sub-alpine forest dominated by limber pine, Pinus
flexilis,
occurs; at the timberline above 3,050 meters (10,000 feet) these trees form an
extensive krummholz. Above
timberline open alpine areas with sparse vegetation occur, snow melt being the
main source of water for much of the vegetation.
Many plant species common at the timberline in the Sierra occur here.
Endemic plants on the alpine areas include Draba corrugata, Galium
parishii, Oreonana vestita and Oxytropis oreophila. Faunal affinities are similar and there is a notable
disjunct occurrence of the flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus, in the area.
The desert bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis nelsoni, is found here. The mountain is composed of various rock types,
primarily mesozoic intrusive granite and adamellite, though there is a large
area of a pre-Cambrian metamorphic complex nearby.
Near the summit small glacial deposits show that glaciers were present in
Southern California during the Pleistocene. Integrity: The
area is in a wilderness category, but the heavy use may have a detrimental
impact. Use: Research,
educational, recreational January 1975
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