The linkage serves to connect the Palomar Mountains with the San Jacinto and Santa
Rosa Mountains. This connection occurs in an ecological transition zone that encompasses
a rich assemblage of vegetative communities. The montane hardwood and conifer associations
found at higher elevations in the Palomar, San Jacinto, and Santa Rosa mountains
are rare in the linkage, occurring only on the northeastern edge on Cahuilla Mountain
and in upper Lion and Cottonwood canyons. A mélange of coastal and desert habitats
occur in the lowlands between these mountain masses, including grasslands, coastal
scrub, mixed chaparral, redshank chaparral, oak and riparian forests and woodlands,
desert scrub, sagebrush, juniper, and broad alluvial fans. In many areas of the
linkage coastal and sonoran desert elements may occur side by side. The Palomar-San
Jacinto/Santa Rosa Connection provides live-in and move-through habitat for diverse
species, including mountain lion, badger, chaparral whipsnake, coast horned lizard,
California quail, wrentit, and pale swallowtail. Focal species that use riparian
corridors as traveling routes, such as western pond turtle and large-eared woodrat,
will also benefit from maintaining connectivity here.
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