The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are an ecoregion of western Tasmania. This ecoregion is one of a small number of temperate rain forests in the world, characterized by cool and mild temperate climates with a strong oceanic influence, high year-round rainfall, and the presence of west-facing coastal mountains.
The mixed forests of the Tasmanian temperate rain forests are home to the Antarctic flora, including broadleaf southern beech (Nothofagus, especially N. cunninghamii), and conifers. Conifers include the Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii), and King Billy pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides). Neither tree is actually a pine; the Huon pine is a member of the southern hemisphere Podocarp family (Podocarpaceae), and the King Billy pine is a member of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae). Both trees are known for their height and great age. Both are also fine, if slow growing, timber trees, and have been reduced considerably by fire, mining and logging.
In 1982, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the northern portion of the ecoregion a World Heritage Site.
Temperaterainforests may be predominantly coniferous, broadleaf, or mixed forests, and occur in Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and Temperate coniferous forests ecoregions.
The largest temperaterainforest zone on the planet, the Pacific temperaterainforests occur on west-facing coastal mountains along the Pacific coast of North America, from Kodiak Island in Alaska to northern California, and are part of the Nearctic ecozone.
The Valdivian rainforests occur in the Valdivian temperaterainforests and Magellanic subpolar forests ecoregions.
Temperaterainforests may be predominantly coniferous (with deciduous trees in understory), broadleaf evergreen, or mixed forests with deciduous species, and occur in Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and Temperate coniferous forests ecoregions.
The temperaterainforests of South America are located on the Pacific coast of southern Chile, on the west-facing slopes of the southern Chilean coast range, and the Andes Mountains in both Chile and Argentina down to the southern tip of South America, and are part of the Neotropic ecozone.
Temperaterainforests in the eastern United States are limited to areas in the southern Appalachian Mountains where orographic precipitation causes weather systems coming from the west and from the Gulf of Mexico to drop more precipitation than in surrounding areas.
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