Geographic Area of the SRMR

The Southern Rocky Mountain Region (SRMR), as defined here, includes the entire state of Colorado, nine counties from southern Wyoming (Albany, Carbon, Converse, Goshen, Laramie, Niobrara, Natrona, Platte, and Sweetwater), and eight counties from northcentral New Mexico (Colfax, Los Alamos, Mora [western half], Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Miguel [western half], Santa Fe, and Taos).

This region is a reasonably coherent ecoregion based on many shared geological and biological features, such as a number of mountain chains of Laramide orogeny. Many vascular plant species are restricted to this region. Many taxa find their northern terminus in southern Wyoming (e.g., Quercus gambelii). The area covered for New Mexico will be more limited, since mountains derived from the Laramide orogeny (Sangre de Cristo, Nacimiento Mountains, and vicinity) terminate in this region. However, its inclusion is natural, given that the geographical ranges of many taxa in the southern Rockies end in this area.