Eldorado National Forest
Eldorado National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range, in eastern California.
Geography
Most of the forest lies in El Dorado County. In descending order of land area the others counties are: Amador, Alpine, and Placer counties in California; and Douglas County in Nevada with. The forest is bordered on the north by the Tahoe National Forest, on the east by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, on the southeast by the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest, and to the south by the Stanislaus National Forest.Eldorado National Forest headquarters are located in Placerville, California. There are local ranger district offices in Camino, Georgetown, Pioneer, and Pollock Pines.
Land ownership
A complicated ownership pattern exists. The parcels of other ownership are mostly isolated and surrounded on all sides by government land. An opposite pattern occurs outside of the forest boundary, where several small scattered pieces of national forest lands are separated from the main body and surrounded by lands of other ownership.- Gross area: 786,994 acres
- Other ownership: 190,270 acres
- Net area: 596,724 acres
Elevations
The forest ranges in elevation from in the foothills to more than above sea level along the Sierra crest. The mountainous topography is broken by the steep canyons of the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, American, and Rubicon rivers. Plateaus of generally moderate relief are located between these steep canyons.Wilderness areas
The Desolation Wilderness is located within the forest's boundaries, as is most of the Mokelumne Wilderness.Climate
A cool montane version of Mediterranean climate extends over most of the forest, with warm, dry summers and cold, wet winters.- Annual precipitation: on average.
- * Precipitation falls mainly from October through April.
- Temperature range: 0 °F in winter to 100 °F in the summer.
- Snow pack: on average, can be as high as.
- * Snow is present from December to May at elevations above 6,000 feet.
Ecology
Vegetation
A wide variety of hardwoods, conifers, shrubs, native grasses, and forbs are represented in the various Eldorado National Forest ecosystems.The principal plant communities found here are:
- Interior chaparral
- Oak woodlands
- Lower Montane forest — indicator species: Pinus ponderosa, Pinus jeffreyi
- Upper Montane forest — indicator species: Abies magnifica
- Subalpine zone.
- Coast Douglas-fir
- Ponderosa pine
- White fir
- Lodgepole pine forests
- Red fir forests
Logging
The major commercial forest species are white fir, red fir, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, Douglas fir, and incense cedar.Water
Water is a major resource of the Eldorado National Forest. The forest receives about of precipitation annually. Average annual runoff is about. This is equal to an annual water yield of per acre ; therefore National Forest lands yield an estimated annually.- of fishable streams in four major drainage systems: Middle Fork of the American River, South Fork of the American River, Cosumnes River, and North Fork of the Mokelumne River.
- 297 lakes and reservoirs, which total 11,994 acres. 11 large reservoirs account for 9,000 acres. The rest are mostly small, high mountain lakes.