The Sierra Nevada subalpine zone refers to a biotic zone below treeline in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, United States. This subalpine zone is positioned between the upper montane zone (such as red fir forest) at its lower limit, and tree line at its upper limit. The marginal conditions make the Sierra Nevada subalpine zone sensitive to environmental changes, such as climate change and pollution. The long-lived nature of the subalpine species make the zone a good study system to examine these effects.