Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains (NA17) Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains (NA17) Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains (NA17) Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains (NA17)

Image credits (1) Miguel Vieira, Creative Commons (2) Courtesy of Walter Siegmund (3) US Forest Service, Creative Commons (4) Dsdugan, Creative Commons

Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains bioregion

The bioregion’s land area is provided in units of 1,000 hectares. The conservation target is the combined Global Safety Net (GSN1) areas for the component ecoregions. The protection level indicates the percentage of the GSN goal that is currently protected on a scale of 0-10. N/A means data is not available at this time.

  • 15,481
    Total Land Area (1000 ha)
  • 2
    Number of Ecoregions
  • 27%
    Protection Target
  • 3
    Protection Level

The Columbia Plateau, located in the American West subrealm of Northern America, is an intermontane bioregion contained by the Rockies to the east and the Cascades to the west. This bioregion consists largely of high-altitude prairie but incorporates the conifer forests that cover the range of the lower lying, volcanic mountains to the south. It contains two ecoregions – Palouse Prairie (398), Blue Mountains Forests (348) – and includes a large portion of the Snake River, which merges with the Columbia River in southern Washington. The total area of this bioregion is approximately 15.5 million hectares.

The Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains bioregion is part of the American West subrealm and is made up of two ecoregions: (1) Palouse Prairie (2) Blue Mountains Forests. 

One Earth is dedicated to mobilizing philanthropic capital to protect the ecosystems and peoples of Northern America. Visit the Project Marketplace to explore projects in this realm that need your support. Learn more about each of the Columbia Plateau & Blue Mountains ecoregions below.

American black bear

Iconic Species

American black bear
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