A variety of conifer and hardwood tree species and evergreen shrubs provide the majority of vegetation in the Wild Rogue Roadless Areas. The most predominate plant series is tanoak. Evergreen hardwoods such as madrone, chinquapin, and tanoak dominate plant communities. Oregon white oak series is found on dry, south-facing slopes. Canyon live oak is found on rocky sites.

Older forests are very prevalent in the area. Conifer species include Douglas fir, white fir, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, incense cedar, Port-Orford cedar, and Pacific yew. Jeffrey pine is often present on the serpentine soils. Understory species in older forests include rhododendron and salal. The Wild Rogue North Watershed Analysis (which studied the watershed that includes the Whisky Creek and the north part of the Zane Grey Roadless Areas) found that 32 percent of the forests were older than 150 years.

Other, smaller vegetation communities are associated with riparian areas, meadows, rock outcrops, rock cliffs, or talus slopes and contribute greatly to the biological diversity of the area. Meadow habitat is very limited in this watershed.  Sites dominated by rock are common within the wilderness area and the Rogue River canyon.

Botany

The Siskiyou Mountains are world renowned for botanical diversity. The Wild Rogue is home to exceptional botanical resources, including rare plants, mosses and fungi.  One species of interest is the Rogue River stonecrop (Sedum moranii). This plant is endemic13 to the Wild Rogue area. It grows on rock outcrops and cliff faces primarily located along the north bank of the Rogue River.14  Another species of interest is the white flowered ginger (Asarum caudatum var. novum). This species occurs near creeks in late-successional forest habitat. While it has yet to be described as a “new” (to science) species, it has only been found on BLM lands in and near this area.15