Mount Elliott ER #125 Overview, Physical and Biological

ORIGINAL PURPOSE : To protect in its natural state, a small, self-contained subalpine drainage,
including a lake
Physical: The reserve includes a complete hanging valley with a subalpine lake. The side
walls are steep, but mostly forested. Rocks are granite-type crystalline rocks of
the Jurassic Island Intrusions formation. Surficial materials are mostly colluvial,
or absent.

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Biological: The reserve contains a variety of closed subalpine forests and loosely treed or  open “subalpine parklands”. The latter occur on gentle slopes as a result of high winter snowpack and/or poor drainage; closed subalpine forests are found on  steep slopes and fast draining colluvial materials. Closed forest communities are  in order of abundance: (1) mountain hemlock (western hemlock, yellow-cedar)- amabilis fir-oval-leaved blueberry, (2) mountain hemlock-yellow-cedarcopperbush, blueberries and (3) yellow cedar-mountain hemlock-oval-leaved  blueberry-Indian hellebore, deer-cabbage. The parkland communities consist  primarily of: (4) dwarf mountain hemlock-blue-leaved huckleberry-pink and  white mountain heather, (5) open alpine heath of pink and white mountain
heather and (6) black alpine sedge in areas of long-lasting snow. Sitka alder  occupies some steep avalanche tracks.
No faunal records are available, but black-tailed deer are probably abundant.

RESEARCH  OPPORTUNITIES
Due to its self-contained drainage system, this reserve is suitable  for studies in hydrology and to establish water quality baseline.
The igneous rocks found here and their soils are in contrast to the  volcanics of reserves #122 and #123.

Flora

Elliottia pyroliflorus, copper bush, Photo by Walter Siegmund

alder, Sitka (Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata)
blueberry, oval-leaved (Vaccinium ovalifolium)
copperbush (Elliottia pyroliflorus)
deer-cabbage (Fauria crista-galli)
fir, amabilis (Abies amabilis)
hellebore, Indian (Veratrum viride)
hemlock, mountain(Tsuga mertensiana)
hemlock, western (Tsuga heterophylla)
huckleberry, blue-leaved (Vaccinium deliciosum)
mountain-heather, pink (Phyllodoce empetriformis)
mountain-heather, white (Cassiope mertensiana var. mertensiana)
sedge, black alpine (Carex nigricans)
yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)
Fauna
Deer, Black-tailed (Odocoileus hemionus ssp. hemionus)