The mountains spread along a north-south axis, separating Luzon's central plain from the South China Sea.

The Zambales mountains have undergone immense deforestation due to excessive logging and swidden farming.

[5] The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo also devastated large areas of the range, mostly ancestral lands of the indigenous Aetas in Zambales.

[6] Reforestation efforts have had success in some barren parts of the range, notably in San Felipe, Zambales at the initiative of the Aeta people supported by MAD Travel and some government agencies.

[7] The Zamabales forest mouse (Apomys zambalensis) is a species of small rodent endemic to Zambales Mountains in the Philippines.