Ponderosa Pine Zone
In a broad belt below the Grand Fir and Douglas-fir zones is an open coniferous forest dominated by Pinus ponderosa Understory vegetation varies from shrubby mats of bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) and snowbrush (Ceanothus velutinus) in central Oregon to meadows of Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) further to the east. This zone has been severely altered by timber harvest.