The Monument Showcases Diversity and Species at their Range Limits

The Siskiyou/Klamath bioregion has perhaps the most relict animals (amphizoid beetles, Calymmaria spiders, and grylloblattids) to name a few.

These creatures may have survived the lateral blast and tidal wave of the dinosaur-killing asteroid by being beneath and behind one of the few mountains then in North America, the Klamath-Siskiyou-Belts. More likely, this range, as persistent and therefore as biodiverse as the Appalachians, kept increasing diversity due to mountain moderation of most disturbances. It also provided among the first temperate climates, and many varied and isolated habitats to evolve in, migrate to, and escape extinction during climate change.