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The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 and the extreme southwest of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, extending 1500 km from southeast Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 (south and east of Tucson
Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border....
) southeast through eastern Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
, western Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas
Zacatecas

Zacatecas States of Mexico of Mexico is located in the north-central region and it is bounded to the northwest by Durango, to the north by Coahuila, to the east by San Luis Potos?, to the south by Aguascalientes and Guanajuato and to the southwest by Jalisco and Nayarit....
, Aguascalientes to Guanajuato, where it joins with the Sierra Madre Oriental
Sierra Madre Oriental

The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico, spanning 1000 km from Coahuila south through Nuevo Le?n, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potos?, Quer?taro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volc?nico Transversal of central Mexico....
 and the Eje Volcánico Transversal (Transverse Volcanic Axis) of central Mexico.






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Sierra Madres of Mexiko
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 and the extreme southwest of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, extending 1500 km from southeast Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 (south and east of Tucson
Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border....
) southeast through eastern Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
, western Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas
Zacatecas

Zacatecas States of Mexico of Mexico is located in the north-central region and it is bounded to the northwest by Durango, to the north by Coahuila, to the east by San Luis Potos?, to the south by Aguascalientes and Guanajuato and to the southwest by Jalisco and Nayarit....
, Aguascalientes to Guanajuato, where it joins with the Sierra Madre Oriental
Sierra Madre Oriental

The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico, spanning 1000 km from Coahuila south through Nuevo Le?n, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potos?, Quer?taro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volc?nico Transversal of central Mexico....
 and the Eje Volcánico Transversal (Transverse Volcanic Axis) of central Mexico. These mountains are generally considered to be part of the much larger American cordillera
American cordillera

The American Cordillera consists of an essentially continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America and South America....
. Sierra Madre means "Mother Range"

The highest point is probably Cerro Mohinora, located at . Different sources cite its altitude as either 3250 m or 3300 m. However, other mountains at and are of very similar altitude and may possibly be higher.

The range is home to the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests
Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests

The Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests are a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Sierra Madre Occidental range of Mexico and the southwestern United States....
, noted for their high biodiversity
Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems....
 and large number of endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
 species.

The mountains are home to several indigenous nations speaking Uto-Aztecan languages
Uto-Aztecan languages

Uto-Aztecan is a Indigenous languages of the Americas language family. It is one of the largest and most well-established linguistic families of the Americas....
, including the Tarahumara
Tarahumara

The Tarahumara are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas people of northern Mexico, renowned for their long-distance running ability.Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua , the Tarahumara retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century....
 in the central portion of the range, and the Huichol
Huichol

The Huichol or Wix?ritari are an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico, living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango....
 in the southern part of the range.

See also

  • Edwin Bustillos
    Edwin Bustillos

    Edwin Bustillos was an agricultural engineer from Mexico. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1996, for his efforts on preservation of land in the Sierra Madre Occidental....
  • Madrean pine-oak woodlands
    Madrean pine-oak woodlands

    The Madrean pine-oak woodlands are subtropical woodlands found in the mountains of Mexico and the southwestern United States.The Madrean pine-oak woodlands are found at higher elevations in Mexico's major mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt, the Sierra Madre del Sur, the S...
  • Madrean sky islands
    Madrean sky islands

    The Madrean sky islands are enclaves of Madrean pine-oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Mexico....
  • Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests
    Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests

    The Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests are a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Sierra Madre Occidental range of Mexico and the southwestern United States....


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