Wildlife
As far as land animals are concerned, the brown bear is only found in Alaska and Canada, and the grizzly bear, smaller in size, is only present in a few northern states of the United States (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington State). So you're not likely to encounter either of them on Route 66. The black bear, on the other hand, is found from Canada to northern Mexico, preferring forests to mountains. On Route 66, it is present in New Mexico and California.
The puma is found only in the western part of the United States, from the Great Plains, unlike the coyote and the lynx which are present almost everywhere in the territory, except on the East Coast. The wolf, very rare outside Alaska, is only found in a few national parks (Isle Royal National Park, in Michigan, and Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming) as well as in the Gila and Apache forests (New Mexico and Arizona).
Finally, bison, which once populated nearly every state in central and eastern North America, can now only be seen in protected, off-road national and state parks, including Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming), Custer State Park (South Dakota), and Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota).
Among the most visible mammals on Route 66, raccoons(racoons) in the eastern part (Illinois, Missouri) and prairie dogs (30 to 40 cm long rodents), from the Great Plains to California, are probably the most common.
Also, wild donkeys(burros) and wild horses (mustangs) are scattered throughout the American West. The overpopulation of these equids is quite problematic for the administration, which recently counted more than 70,000 of them, three times the number recommended to preserve the natural balance. These animals are preserved by law and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Burros are the street stars of Oatman, a small former mining town west of Kingman, on Route 66 itself.
Large birds (vultures, eagles) abound in the deserts where only a few of the many reptiles are venomous. One of them is the rattlesnake, of which you can see beautiful specimens at the American International Rattlesnake Museum, in Albuquerque.
On the west coast, the Pacific is home to large colonies of sea lions (called California sea lions) and many sea otters. The gray whale is present along the coast from November to April, during its winter migration.
The flora
The flora reflects the geographical and climatic variety of the country. Outside of the desert areas, the forest was cleared for agriculture, especially in the Great Plains, today the domain of large-scale cereal crops. On or near Route 66, forests occupy part of the Great Lakes region (including Lake Michigan and Chicago), central Arizona and the mountains near Los Angeles.
In the High Plains of the western plateaus, only drought tolerant vegetation exists in places. This semi-arid zone is the domain of steppes and natural prairies of chiendents, sagebrush and juniper.
As one moves westward, the vegetation becomes more sparse, giving way to shorter grassy formations and sparse vegetation, except in the mountainous areas populated by pine and fir trees. In the semi-desert areas of Arizona, giant candlestick cacti take root in the barren land to form often extraordinary silhouettes.
The ponderosa pine has a very wide geographic distribution in western North America. On Route 66, you will see many in Arizona, around Flagstaff and Williams.
The redwood is the tree that is found most in California, especially in the Sierra Nevada. These trees are characterized by their height and their great resistance to forest fires (which are also necessary for its reproduction). The tallest in the world, Hyperion, would measure 116 m and would have been discovered in 2006 in a zone kept secret of the Redwood National and State Parks. The best known to date remains General Sherman, which is located in Sequoia National Park (off Route 66). About 2,200 years old, it is 83 m high and its circumference at ground level is 31 m. Its first big branch is located at 39 m from the ground.
Forest fires, real ecological and sometimes human catastrophes, periodically ravage the western United States. The most affected states are California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington Territory. In the last major fires to date, we can cite Oak Fire, in July 2022, Dixie Fire in July 2021 and August Complex Fire in August 2020. In November 2018, Camp Fire, was the deadliest fire known to date by California. It caused the death of 85 people in the town of Paradise and its surroundings. This town populated by 26,000 people in 2018 was home to only 4,700 in 2020. These fires are largely related to the current global warming, which brings a rise in average temperatures and a gradual disappearance of rainfall in some areas. August temperatures in the American West can easily reach over 45° C. Arizona, with an average maximum temperature of 28.1° C, is by far the hottest state on Route 66, followed by Texas (26.3° C), New Mexico (23.6° C), Oklahoma (23.2° C), California (23.1° C), Kansas (19.9° C), Missouri (18.9° C) and Illinois (17.6° C).
