Russian Peak

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Russian Peak is part of a sub-range of the Klamath Mountains called the Salmon Mountains-a horseshoe-shaped range encompassing the headwaters of the Salmon River. The mountain itself is part of the granitic Russian Peak batholith. This beautiful peak is also the highest peak in the Russian Wilderness-12,700 acres of subalpine lakes and botanical wonders. The peak gained prominence amongst botanists in the 1970s when Dale Thornburgh and John Sawyer began conducting studies in its drainages. In addition to discovering the first stands of subalpine fir in California, the diversity of other conifers they found here was reason for pause and then return studies. In all, after several years of research, they discovered 17 species of conifers in one square mile-of varied terrain-below the peak. Those conifers are: foxtail pine, whitebark pine, western white pine, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, sugar pine, white fir, Shasta fir, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, Brewer spruce, mountain hemlock, Douglas-fir, incense-cedar, common juniper, and Pacific yew.