Washington has a tremendous diversity of landscapes, ranging from the marine waters of the outer coast and Puget Sound to the volcanic peaks rising from the Cascade Mountains, the broad Columbia Plateau, the rolling Palouse hills, the Columbia River, and extensions of boreal and Rocky Mountains habitats in the northeastern portion of the state. These landscapes support a diversity of ecosystems including marine eelgrass beds, tidepools, salt marshes, lowland rainforests, montane coniferous forests, subalpine and alpine meadows and parklands, shrub-steppe, grasslands, prairies, sand dunes, riparian areas, forested swamps, vernal pools, marshes, fens, and bogs. These ecosystems are home to more than 2,600 native vascular plant species, thousands of mosses, lichens, liverworts, and fungi, 140 mammals, 451 freshwater and marine fishes, 341 birds, 25 amphibians, 28 reptiles, and more than 20,000 species of invertebrates. Some species are unique to Washington and not found anywhere else on Earth. Join Washington Dept. of Natural Resources Program Manager Joe Rocchio for a virtual trek through Washington’s amazingly diverse and beautiful terrestrial landscapes and learn about the incredible variety of life that underpins Washington’s natural beauty.
Speakers
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Joe Rocchio
BioJoe Rocchio is the Program Manager for the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Program. The Washington Natural Heritage Program connects conservation science with conservation actions by collecting, maintaining, and distributing data on rare species and ecosystems, as well as providing a number of other services and products in support of conservation in Washington.
