Biodiversity

The mountains’ diverse habitats – the mossy boulder-lined mountain streams, the high windy ridge tops, the rare mountain bogs – host a wide variety of species. Scientists call the forests of the Southern Blue Ridge the most ecologically rich in the temperate world; over 100,000 species are estimated to live in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone. The mountains are home to 400 rare plants and more than 250 plants that occur nowhere else in the world.