The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range located in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch 3,000 mi (4,800 km) in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. The northern terminus is located in the Liard River area east of the Pacific Coast Ranges, while the southernmost point is near the Albuquerque area adjacent the Rio Grande Basin and north of the Sandia–Manzano Mountain Range. Located within the North American Cordillera, the Rockies are distinct from the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada, which all lie farther to the west.
The Canadian Rockies or Canadian Rocky Mountains comprise both the Alberta Rockies and the B.C. Rockies in the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. They are the eastern part of the North American Cordillera, which is a system of multiple ranges of mountains which runs from the Prairies to the Pacific Coast. The Canadian Rockies mountain system comprises the southeastern part of this system, lying between the Interior Plains of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia on the east to the Rocky Mountain Trench of BC on the west. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the United States. In geographic terms, the boundary is at the Canada–United States border, but in geological terms it might be considered to be at Marias Pass in northern Montana. The northern end is at the Liard River in northern British Columbia.
Papaver is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annuals, biennials, and perennials native to temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the type genus of the poppy family, Papaveraceae.
Philadelphus lewisii —also known as Gordon's mockorange, Indian arrowwood, wild mockorange and syringa—a name that usually refers to the unrelated lilacs.—is a deciduous shrub native to western North America, from northwestern California in the Sierra Nevada, north to southern British Columbia, and east to Idaho and Montana. It was first collected by scientist and explorer Meriwether Lewis in 1806 during the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Philadelphus lewisii is named after him.
Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada.
Papaver californicum is a species of poppy known by the common names fire poppy and western poppy.
Erythronium grandiflorum is a North American species of plants in the lily family. It is known by several common names, including yellow avalanche lily, glacier lily, and dogtooth fawn lily. The Ktunaxa name for glacier lily is maxa.
Hulsea algida is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family, known by the common name Pacific hulsea or alpine gold.
Arnica parryi is a North American species of arnica known by the common name Parry's arnica or nodding arnica. It is native to western Canada and the western United States as far south as Inyo County, California and McKinley County, New Mexico. It grows in temperate coniferous forests and alpine meadows in mountainous areas, primarily the Rocky Mountains, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada.
Prosartes trachycarpa, the roughfruit fairybells, rough-fruited fairybells or rough-fruited mandarin, is a North American species of plants in the lily family. The species is widespread, known from British Columbia to Ontario and south to Arizona and New Mexico. One isolated population was reported from Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
Juncus parryi is a species of rush known by the common name Parry's rush. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist and dry spots in mountain habitat, including rocky talus and other areas in the subalpine and alpine climate. This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a dense clump of stems up to about 30 centimeters tall. There are short, thready leaves around the stem bases. The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers accompanied by a long, cylindrical bract which appears like an extension of the stem. The flower is made up of a few pointed, brown segments with membranous edges.
Ribes montigenum is a species of currant known by the common names mountain gooseberry, alpine prickly currant, western prickly gooseberry,and gooseberry currant. It is native to western North America from Washington south to California and east as far as the Rocky Mountains, where it grows in high mountain habitat types in subalpine and alpine climates, such as forests and talus. It is a spreading shrub growing up to 1.5 meters tall, the branching stems covered in prickles and hairs and bearing 1 to 5 sharp spines at intervals.
Romanzoffia sitchensis is a species of flowering plant in the [Borage family[Hydrophylloideae|Waterleaf subfamily]] known by the common name Sitka mistmaiden. It is native to western North America from Alaska through British Columbia and Alberta to far northern California and Montana.
The ecology of the Rocky Mountains is diverse due to the effects of a variety of environmental factors. The Rocky Mountains are the major mountain range in western North America, running from the far north of British Columbia in Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States, climbing from the Great Plains at or below 1,800 feet (550 m) to peaks of over 14,000 feet (4,300 m). Temperature and rainfall varies greatly also and thus the Rockies are home to a mixture of habitats including the alpine, subalpine and boreal habitats of the Northern Rocky Mountains in British Columbia and Alberta, the coniferous forests of Montana and Idaho, the wetlands and prairie where the Rockies meet the plains, a different mix of conifers on the Yellowstone Plateau in Wyoming and in the high Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico, and finally the alpine tundra of the highest elevations.
Townsendia condensata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names cushion Townsend daisy and cushion townsendia. It is native to North America where it is known from many scattered occurrences in the mountains of the western United States and Alberta in Canada. It is mainly limited to the alpine climates of high mountain peaks, where it grows in meadows, tundra, and barren, rocky talus. It grows alongside other alpine plants such as Eriogonum androsaceum.
Erigeron lanatus is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name woolly fleabane. It is native to western North America, where it occurs in the mountains straddling the border between British Columbia and Alberta and Montana, with isolated populations occurring as far north as Yukon and as far south as Colorado.
Solidago missouriensis is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Missouri goldenrod and prairie goldenrod. It is native to North America, where it is widespread across much of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. It grows from British Columbia east to Manitoba, south as far as Sonora, Coahuila, Texas, and Mississippi.
Lonicera utahensis is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common names Utah honeysuckle, red twinberry, and fly honeysuckle. It is native to western North America from British Columbia, Washington (state), and Oregon, east to Alberta and Montana and south through the Rocky Mountains to Arizona and New Mexico.
There are 14 species of amphibians and 5 species of reptiles known to occur in Mount Rainier National Park.
