The Sierra de Picachos is a mountain range located in the state of

Nuevo Leon Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to: * Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California * Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin * Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico * "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The highest peak in the range reaches an elevation of 4,990 feet (1,521 m) at 26° 03′ 54″ North Latitude and 99° 54′ 56″ West Longitude.

Geography

The Sierra de Picachos is located about 35 miles (55 km) northeast of the city of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

. The Sierra is about 40 miles (55 km) from north to south and 15 miles (25 km) wide. It covers a total area of 542 square miles (1,405 km²). Elevations range from 1,300 feet (400 m) to 4,990 feet (1,521 m). Several peaks reach elevations of more than 4,200 feet (1,300 m). The Sierra is separated from the main ranges of the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

by a mountain pass traversed by Highway 85 which runs from

Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, United States. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Lare ...

. Most of the land is cloaked in a semi-desert shrubland (

Tamaulipan matorral The Tamaulipan matorral is an ecoregion in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental range in northeastern Mexico. It is a transitional ecoregion between the Tamaulipan mezquital and the Sierra Madr ...

) made up of woody shrubs, small trees, cacti, and succulents. Above elevations of 2,600 feet (800 m), an oak forest is the dominant vegetation covering 15 percent of the total land in the Picachos. Two species of pines,

Arizona Pine ''Pinus arizonica'', commonly known as the Arizona pine, is a medium-sized pine in northern Mexico, southeast Arizona, southwest New Mexico, and western Texas in the United States. It is a tree growing to 25–35 m tall, with a trunk diameter of ...

and Mexican pine, are found among the oaks. Mammals found in the Picachos include

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

and

Cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

Due to the prominence of its rocky-topped peaks and its proximity to Monterrey, conservation efforts to preserve the natural environment of the Sierra de Picachos have been extensive. In 2003, the state of Nuevo Leon declared 185,329 acres (75,853 ha) of the Sierra as a Protected Natural Area. Most of the land in the protected area is privately owned but the human impact has been relatively light. An extensive study of avian life from 1997 to 2000 identified 146 bird species in the Sierra de Picachos.Gonzalez-Iglesias, Ruben M. (2004) "Bird Community from Sierra de Picachos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico", ''Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science'', Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 68-73. Downloaded from

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

Climate

The climate of the Sierra is mostly semi-arid, ranging from desert to a more humid environment at higher elevations. Summers are hot; winters are cool by Mexican standards with freezes common. Precipitation is highly variable ranging from about 12 inches (300 mm) to 32 inches (800 mm) annually. Most precipitation is in the summer from May to October. Winters are dry. The climate of

Higueras Higueras is a Spanish municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alto Palancia, in the Province of Castellón, Valencian Community. In 2015, the population was 91. History The village was first mentioned in the 13th century as ''Torre de la Higuera''. ...

at the foot of the Picachos is typical of the lower elevations in the Sierra. Climatic Classification. Bsh (Koppen) or Bsak (Trewartha). Sub tropical Cw climates are found at higher elevations.

References

{{reflist Mountain ranges of Mexico Landforms of Nuevo León Protected areas of Nuevo León