California Chaparral

California Chaparral is a Mediterranean climate ecoregion running along the west coast of North America from southwestern Oregon through northern, central and southern California into northwestern Baja California, covering roughly 121,000 square kilometers of the Nearctic realm's Mediterranean forest, woodland and scrub biome. Its vegetation ranges from grassland and oak savanna to dense chaparral shrubland and coniferous forest, including coast redwoods, gray pines, scrub oaks and California buckeyes alongside narrowly endemic species such as the Gowen cypress and Monterey cypress, and the region is conventionally divided into coastal, montane and interior chaparral zones. Characteristic wildlife includes the California gnatcatcher, Costa's hummingbird, the coast horned lizard, the rosy boa, several kangaroo rat species and the endangered white eared pocket mouse. The ecoregion is also home to some of the largest urban centers on the Pacific coast, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, whose growth has heavily altered the surrounding chaparral and woodland habitat.