OGILVIE MOUNTAINS

Contributed by Alan Tracey

FACTS

Country: Canada
Location: Dempster Highway, Yukon Territory
Round trip: Varies
Start elevation: Varies
Final Elevation: Varies
Map: Yukon Road Maps: Energy, Mines and Resources, Canada, Topographical maps (1:50000).

GETTING THERE

From Whitehorse, Yukon, take the Klondike Highway north to about 45 km southeast of Dawson City, then north on the Dempster highway which is an all-weather gravel road.

PARTIAL PLANT LIST

Andromeda polifolia

Androsace chamaejasme

Anemone narcissiflora

Anemone parviflora

Arnica lessingii

Cardamine purpurea

Douglas gormanii

Draba ogilviensis

Dryas octapetala

Gentiana algida

Gentiana glauca

Geum rossii

Kalmia polifolia

Ledum decumbens

Mertensia paniculata

Myosotis alpestris ssp. asiaticus

Papaver nudicaule

Parrya nudicaulis

Pedicularis lanata

The bedrock of the southern Ogilvie Mountains consists largely of sedimentary materials with scattered igneous intrusions. Of these, the Tombstone range originates from a large granite intrusion. The soil in this area derives mainly from the associated bedrock and there are frequent bedrock exposures. The density and variety of the plant species vary greatly within this area. Regions with shale-like exposures seem to provide the highest diversity of flowering plants.

The southern regions of the Ogilvie Range was heavily glaciated but the mountains were not fully ice-covered. Plant and animal populations survived but were isolated from other populations. As a result, relict species occur that have no near relatives in the area. Probably the most famous of these is not a plant but a collared lemming that is known only from eleven animals captured in this region of the Yukon and is apparently the only animal restricted to the Yukon. Interestingly, the antennaria, Antennaria densiflolia which is found in the Ogilvie and Richardson mountains has a small disjunct population in Montana while the Spring Beauty, Claytonia ogilviensis, is endemic to the Ogilvie Mountains.