The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the

Oregon Coast Range The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south runni ...

, in the

Pacific Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...

physiographic region Physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining Earth's landforms into distinct regions, based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separates landforms into physiographic divisions, physiographic pr ...

, and located in the west-central portion of the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

roughly between the Salmon River and the

Umpqua River The Umpqua River ( ) on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west ...

and the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. This approximately long mountain range contains mountains as high as 4,097 feet (1,226 m) for Marys Peak. Portions of the range are inside the

Siuslaw National Forest The Siuslaw National Forest ( ) is a national forest in western Oregon in the United States. Established in 1908, the Siuslaw is made up of a wide variety of ecosystems, ranging from coastal forests to sand dunes. Geography The Siuslaw Nati ...

and three wilderness areas exist as well: Drift Creek Wilderness,

Cummins Creek Wilderness The Cummins Creek Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Siuslaw National Forest within the Oregon Coast. It is one of three wilderness areas created in the Siuslaw in 1984, along with Drift Creek and Rock Creek. It is ''"dedicated to preserv ...

and

Rock Creek Wilderness The Rock Creek Wilderness is a wilderness area comprising within the Siuslaw National Forest on the Oregon Coast. It was created in 1984, along with the Drift Creek Wilderness and Cummins Creek Wilderness.

Geology

The underlying rock of the Central Coast Range are the

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

rocks from the

Siletz River Volcanics The Siletz River Volcanics, located in the Oregon Coast Range, United States, are a sequence of basaltic pillow lavas that make up part of Siletzia.Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

age. It is estimated that this rock formation is up to thick. These formations consist mainly of

pillow basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

, large

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

flows, tuff-breccia, and sills. This part of the mountains are approximately 50 to 60 million years old. It is theorized that the source of these lava flows came from oceanic islands that formed over a tectonic hotspot. The entire Oregon Coast Range overlies a convergent tectonic margin that interacts with the Juan de Fuca Plate that is being sub-ducted beneath the North America tectonic plate. This is the

Cascadia subduction zone The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and ...

that has experienced uplift for several million years. Currently it is part of a large forearc basin that extends for much of the entire Coast Range on a north-south alignment. Parts of the upper portions of the range contain

continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin ...

deposits A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, Transaction account#Current accounts, current accounts or any of several othe ...

from the early Eocene to Paleocene age. Portions of this include marine fossils in the geologic record. Sandstone and shale are also present in the sections of the mountains, with thickness up to . In the southern part of the range the bedrock is overlaid by

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

age turbidite sediments and river sediment. The active tectonic forces have created many faults and folds in the range. Additionally, erosion is a major landscape-shaping force for the range. Both heavy rainfall and the resulting

landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

have worked to erode and shape the mountains.Byrne, John V. An Erosional Classification for the Northern Oregon Coast, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 54, No. 3. (Sep., 1964), pp. 329-335. Much of the landscape is dominated by steep slopes and drainages that are deeply cut into the hillsides from the erosion. Unlike many areas in North America, the mountain range did not see glaciations during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

age.

Flora and fauna

Red alder and sword fern, Oregon Coast Range

The Oregon Coast Range is home to over 50 mammals, 100 species of birds, and nearly 30 reptiles or amphibians that spent a significant portion of their life cycle in the mountains.Northwest Forest Plan: Wildlife Habitat Relationships for the Coast Guide.
ECOSHARE: Interagency Clearinghouse of Ecological Information. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. Birds living in the Central Coast Range include a variety of smaller and larger bird species. These include winter wrens, chestnut-backed chickadees,

red-breasted nuthatch The red-breasted nuthatch (''Sitta canadensis'') is a small songbird. The adult has blue-grey upperparts with cinnamon underparts, a white throat and face with a black stripe through the eyes, a straight grey bill and a black crown. Its call, wh ...

es, varied thrushes, several swallow species, red crossbills, evening grosbeaks, brown creepers, olive-sided flycatchers, Hammond's flycatchers, gray jays, western wood-pewees, and western tanagers. Some of the larger species in the range include the red-breasted sapsucker, common ravens, peregrine falcons, the

pileated woodpecker The pileated woodpecker (''Dryocopus pileatus'') is a large, mostly black woodpecker native to North America. An insectivore, it inhabits deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the ...

, turkey vultures, wood duck, common nighthawks, and the red-tailed hawk. Birds in lower numbers include Vaux's swifts, the endangered

spotted owl The spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis'') is a species of true owl. It is a resident species of old-growth forests in western North America, where it nests in tree hollows, old bird of prey nests, or rock crevices. Nests can be between high a ...

, bald eagles, the downy woodpecker, hairy woodpeckers, the pine siskin, the

hermit warbler The hermit warbler (''Setophaga occidentalis'') is a small perching bird. It is a species of New World warbler or wood-warbler. They are a migratory bird, the breeding range spanning the majority of the west coast of the United States. Their wint ...

, Pacific-slope flycatchers, golden-crowned kinglets, and ruffed grouse. One of the more common avian wildlife is the American dipper, which live mainly near rivers and streams.Anthony, Robert G
Nest-site selection and productivity of American Dippers in the Oregon Coast Range. (09-01-2006)
Goliath. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. These birds build nests from six to nine inches (229 mm) in diameter out of moss. The central coast range is also home to some larger animals such as deer, elk, bobcat, and bear. Bear are

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

while deer are mule and

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

species. Some additional mammals are

mountain beaver The mountain beaver (''Aplodontia rufa'')Other names include mountain boomer, ground bear, giant mole, gehalis, lesser sasquatch, sewellel, suwellel, showhurll, showtl, and showte, as well as a number of Chinookan and other Native American terms ...

, coyote, mink, river otter, mountain lion, the common raccoon, common porcupine, brush rabbit, and skunk. The coast range is inhabited by eleven different species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

s, and they account for nearly 20% of all the

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

species in the range.John P. Hayes, Patrick T. Hounihan, Stephen P. Cross
Habitat relationships and riparian-zone associations of bats in managed coast range forests.
Adaptive C.O.P.E. Program. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. Species of bats include the Yuma myotis, silver-haired bat, big brown bat, hoary bat, and the long-eared myotis. Other mammals living in the central range include

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

s, creeping voles, long-tailed voles, vagrant shrews, deer mice, Pacific jumping mice, western pocket gopher, marsh shrew, shrew-mole, coast-mole, ermine,

northern flying squirrel The northern flying squirrel (''Glaucomys sabrinus'') is one of three species of the genus '' Glaucomys'', the only flying squirrels found in North America.Walker EP, Paradiso JL. 1975. ''Mammals of the World''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...

, and Townsend's chipmunk among others.Nobuya Suzuki and Brenda C. McComb
Associations of Small Mammals and Amphibians with Beaver-occupied Streams in the Oregon Coast Range (2004).
Washington State University. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. Amphibians include, but are not limited to, rough-skinned newts, northwestern salamanders, western red-backed salamander, Coastal tailed frog, Coastal giant salamander, red-legged frog, southern torrent salamander, and ''

Ensatina The ensatina (''Ensatina eschscholtzii'') is a species complex of plethodontid (lungless) salamanders found in coniferous forests, oak woodland and chaparral

''. Additional species include northwestern garter snake, northern alligator lizard,

Pacific tree frog The Pacific tree frog (''Pseudacris regilla''), also known as the Pacific chorus frog, has a range spanning the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington to British Columbia in Canada and extreme southern Alaska. They l ...

, western pond turtles, gopher snake, ringneck snake, and western fence lizards. Fish species in the Central Coast Range include chinook salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout, and the threatened species

coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...

.Siuslaw National Forest - Stream & River Fishing.
United States Forest Service. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. A large section of the range is covered by the Siuslaw National Forest. Most of the range is forested and mainly within the western hemlock vegetation zone with the overstory of the forest dominated by

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in Nort ...

, western hemlock, western cedar, bigleaf maple, and

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

trees. In these forested sections, trees include Sitka spruce, western redcedar, Douglas-fir, and western hemlock.From the Forest to the Sea: A Story of Fallen Trees.
Tree Dictionary. Retrieved on February 29, 2008. The understory of the forest areas contain vine maple,

Oregon grape ''Mahonia aquifolium'', the Oregon grape or holly-leaved barberry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to western North America. It is an evergreen shrub growing tall and wide, with pinnate leaves consisting of sp ...

, salmonberry, huckleberry, and sword fern to name a few. Other plants that grow in the region are Pacific madrone, salmonberry, Pacific silver fir, bracken fern, manzanita, thimble-berry,

Pacific dogwood ''Cornus nuttallii'', the Pacific dogwood, western dogwood, or mountain dogwood, is a species of dogwood tree native to western North America. Description It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, reaching tall, often with a canopy spre ...

, bitter cherry, snowberry, some rose species, and cascara.Macnab, James A. Biotic Aspection in the Coast Range Mountains of Northwestern Oregon, Ecological Monographs, Vol. 28, No. 1. (Jan., 1958), pp. 21-54. Additionally, various grass, sedge, and moss species are some of the other plant life growing in the mountain range.

Arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s include various spiders, millipedes, collembolans, beetles, and a variety of centipedes.

Location and climate

The range begins around the Salmon River with the

Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part ...

to the north.

Oregon Route 18 Oregon Route 18 is a state highway that runs between the Oregon Coast, near Lincoln City, Oregon, Lincoln City, and Newberg, Oregon, Newberg. OR 18 traverses the Salmon River Highway No. 39 of the Oregon state highway system, named af ...

is the general divide between the two sections. On the southern end the Umpqua River and Oregon Route 38 provide the general dividing line between the Central and

Southern Oregon Coast Range The Southern Oregon Coast Range is the southernmost section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in the southwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States, roughly between the Umpqua River and the middle fork of the ...

. The climate of the mountains is of the mild maritime variety. It is characterized by cool dry summers followed by mild and wet winters. Most precipitation falls in the form of rain, with snow during the winter months at the higher elevations. Annual precipitation varies from 60 to 120 inches (150–300 cm), with more in the higher elevations. The average high temperature in January is 36.3 °F (2.4 °C), and the average high in July is 61.9 °F (16.6 °C) with temperature also varying by elevation.

Peaks

All peaks in the range over in elevation.

Rivers

The following rivers have portions of their headwaters in the Central Oregon Coast Range: Drains to

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

: * Long Tom River *

Luckiamute River The Luckiamute River is a tributary of the Willamette River, about long, in western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of Central Oregon Coast Range and the western Willamette Valley northwest of Corvallis. It rises in the remote mo ...

* Marys River Drains to

: *

Alsea River The Alsea River flows from Alsea, an unincorporated community in the coastal mountains of the U.S. state of Oregon, to the Pacific Ocean near the city of Waldport. It begins at the confluence of the North Fork Alsea River and the South Fork Als ...

D River The D River is a river in Lincoln City, Oregon, United States. The once-nameless river was at one time the "shortest river in the world" in the ''Guinness World Records'' at . World record dispute The world's shortest title was lost in 1989 whe ...

* Little Nestucca River * Salmon River *

Siletz River The Siletz River flows about to the Pacific Ocean through coastal mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of its north and south forks near Valsetz in Polk County, it winds through the Central Oregon Coast Range. The ri ...

* Siltcoos River *

Siuslaw River The Siuslaw River ( ) is a river, about long, that flows to the Pacific Ocean coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of about in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and north of the watershed of th ...

* Smith River *

Yachats River The Yachats River ( ) is a short river on the central Oregon coast, about west-north-west of Eugene. The name is the native name meaning ''at the foot of the mountain''. The river begins about east-south-east of Yachats, Oregon, in steep, thi ...

Yaquina River The Yaquina River ( ) is a stream, long, on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport. It rises in the mountains west of Corvallis along the c ...

References

External links

CFER News: Riparian Litter Inputs to Streams in the Central Oregon Coast Range
{{Oregon Coast Range * Mountain ranges of Oregon Landforms of Douglas County, Oregon Landforms of Lane County, Oregon Landforms of Polk County, Oregon Landforms of Benton County, Oregon Landforms of Lincoln County, Oregon