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Taiga Cordillera

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Name	†	Color on Map	CEC Code‡
Ogilvie Mountains	○		3.2.1
Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains	○		3.2.2
Peel River and Nahanni Plateaus	○		3.2.3

† Status: ✓ = Complete ○ = Needs Image … = Incomplete ∅ = Stub Only

‡ This code refers to the CEC's Level 3 ecoregion codes for North America, see here.

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↑About the Taiga Cordillera

The Taiga Cordillera is a Canadian ecozone (corresponding to a US EPA Level II ecoregion) covering a mountainous, interior area of northwestern Canada, extending barely into eastern Alaska. It includes the ranges called the Ogilvie, Mackenzie, and Selwyn Mountains, and the Nahanni Plateaus just adjacent to these mountains, but stops short of the Ram Plateau farther east.

Vegetation includes extensive forests, giving way to scrubland and eventually more tundra-like vegetation at higher altitudes and in the northern regions. The steep topography creates considerable diversity of plant communities on different slopes of mountains; south-facing slopes are warmer, with conditions more like areas farther south, whereas north-facing slopes are colder. The west-to-east motion of common weather patterns in this region causes moisture to be deposited more on western slopes, with rain shadow on east-facing slopes.

Lowland forests are dominated by spruce, whereas fir is more common in alpine areas. There are also several deciduous tree species found here.

This region is extremely sparsely populated, with only a few hundred inhabitants, but it a popular tourist destination in summer. Permanent residents are mostly members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, living in the largest settlement Old Crow, Yukon, located in a flat, lowland part of the region.

To the north and east, this region is bordered by the flatter, more open Taiga Plain, and to the west, by the diverse and dynamic Alaska Boreal Interior. To the south, it is bordered by the Boreal Cordillera.