Other important plants are sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and lodgepole pine (pinus contorta).

Birds of the area include bald eagle, northern spotted owl, Lewis's woodpecker, Williamson's sapsucker, red-breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglet and many migratory species, with the riverbanks important habitat for this birdlife.

Juniper woodlands have expanded markedly into the sagebrush-grassland during the twentieth century due to a combination of climatic factors, fire suppression, and grazing pressure.

Riparian areas support white alder, mockorange, western chokecherry, clematis, willows, black cottonwood, and water birch.

[2] The John Day/Clarno Highlands ecoregion is characterized by moderately to highly dissected hills and low mountains that are uniformly covered by Western ponderosa pine forest with a grass and shrub understory.

Historically, frequent low intensity wildfires reduced fuel loading in forests of widely spaced old-growth ponderosa pine.

Potential vegetation is mostly open ponderosa pine, with some Douglas-fir, western juniper, mountain-mahogany, snowberry, mountain big sagebrush, elk sedge, Idaho fescue, and bluebunch wheatgrass.

Loess and ash soils over a substrate of basalt retain sufficient moisture to support forest cover at lower elevations than elsewhere in the Blue Mountains.

A dense and diverse shrub layer grows beneath the relatively open canopy of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, which may delay tree regeneration after logging.

The herbaceous ground cover features heartleaf arnica, pinegrass, elk sedge, Idaho fescue, Sandberg's bluegrass, and bluebunch wheatgrass.

The region covers 1,391 square miles (3,603 km2) in Oregon, as well as small areas across the border in Washington, and includes public land within the Umatilla National Forest.

Placer mining for gold altered the structure of many stream channels and left extensive tailings piles in riparian areas.

The character of the region's xeric forest varies between moister maritime-influenced and drier continental areas, particularly in the diversity and extent of the shrub understory.

It includes the southern Seven Devils Mountains and pieces of the uplifted Columbia Plateau, where the basalt has been eroded to a series of knife-edge ridges flanked by deep canyons.

Western ponderosa pine forest is also present, with ninebark, snowberry, oceanspray, heartleaf arnica, elk sedge, Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass, and bluegrass.

Of the major historic Snake River salmon stocks, the coho and sockeye are extinct, the chinook are threatened, and summer steelhead are in decline.

[2][3][4] The Continental Zone Highlands ecoregion is a moderately dissected, mountainous volcanic plateau, with scattered cinder cones, at an elevation of 4,000 to 6,700 feet (1,219 to 2,042 m).

The predominant forest cover is ponderosa pine with a shrub or bunchgrass understory; the region lacks a zone of true firs found in other highland areas in the Blue Mountains.

The combined masses of the Cascade Range and the Blue and Wallowa mountains block any maritime influence, creating a continental climate.

Most of the floodplain wetlands have been drained for agriculture, but a remnant exists in the Grande Ronde Basin at the Ladd Marsh state wildlife area.

The region covers 1,984 square miles (5,139 km2) in Oregon, along the I-84 corridor between La Grande and Baker City and in the Wallowa Valley near Enterprise.

The climate is influenced by maritime air traveling up the Columbia River Gorge, with higher precipitation than other forested regions in the Blue Mountains.

The region's boundaries correspond to the distribution of true fir forest before the modern era of fire suppression and high grade logging.

Drier slopes feature Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain maple, ninebark, pinegrass, elk sedge, and bigleaf sandwort.

The region covers 2,226 square miles (5,765 km2) in Oregon, 47 square miles (122 km2) in Idaho, and small areas in Washington, including parts of the Malheur, Ochoco, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman national forests, and significant portions of the Mill Creek, Bridge Creek, Black Canyon, Monument Rock, North Fork John Day, North Fork Umatilla, and Eagle Cap wildernesses.

Very open forests of subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and whitebark pine tolerate the cold soils, deep snowpack, and extremely short growing season near timberline.

The climate has a marine influence, and the region is less arid than the botanically similar High Lava Plains of the Northern Basin and Range ecoregion to the southeast.

The region covers 1,576 square miles (4,082 km2) along the Deschutes and Crooked rivers in Oregon, in a triangle defined roughly by Warm Springs, Prineville, and Bend.

The short growing season and saturated soil make these basins unsuitable for most crops, except hay, but they are heavily grazed by cattle and elk.

The smallest of the Blue Mountains subregions, the Cold Basins covers 400 square miles (1,036 km2) in several disjunct areas in central and eastern Oregon.