This ecoregion is also relatively sparsely populated: approximately 122,000 people live in the BC portion; about 8,000 live in the Washington portion. Most human impact have been the result of logging and road-building; however, it is anticipated that the area between Vancouver, Whistler and Pemberton will rapidly undergo development, particularly road building and housing development, as a result of Whistler/Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. Additional information on this ecoregion is available from the Washington Biodiversity Council.
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The
mountainous North Cascades and Pacific Ranges ecoregion extends south
from Toba Inlet in British Columbia to just south of Snoqualmie Pass
in Washington State. The ecoregion encompasses 9.4 million acres of
rugged, glaciated mountain terrain that is punctuated occasionally
by large, composite volcanoes rising to over 10,000 feet. The Washington
portion of the ecoregion contains the greatest concentration of active
glaciers in the conterminous United States. The windward slopes of
the Coast Mountains and Cascades Range are covered in temperate rainforests.
Conifers predominate and can grow to enormous size, especially on
the moister, western slopes. 