CLIMAX COMMUNITIES : PRESENT DISTRIBUTION 271 



as snow (thirty-five to seventy feet in the subalpine zone). The 

 greatest total precipitation occurs in the middle slopes, between 

 5,000 and 7,000 feet, which support the luxuriant mixed coniferous 

 forest of the montane zone. The subalpine zone coincides with the 

 altitudes of greatest snowfall, where precipitation equals about 

 forty to fifty inches a year. 



Fig. 140. Lodgepole pine at 8,800 feet in the subalpine zone, Carson Range 

 of the Sierra Nevada.— Photo by courtesy of the Agricultural Extension Serv- 

 ice, Univ. of Nevada. 



Subalpine Zo?ie.— This zone extends through an altitudinal range 

 of little more than 1,000 feet, its limits, varying with latitude, be- 

 ing between 6,500 and 9,500 feet. The climate may be described 

 as cool, winter-wet, summer-dry, with a short growing season. 



Red fir (Abies magnified) is the important climax species, grow- 

 ing in dense stands and making up 80-90 percent of the forest. 189 

 Of the associated species, none is an important component of the 

 climax. Although western white pine (Pima monticola) is con- 



