Albuquerque is located at the crossroads of several ecoregions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the city is located in the southeastern edge of the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau, with the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion defining the adjacent Sandia-Manzano mountains, including the foothills in the eastern edges of the city proper east of Juan Tabo or Tramway boulevards. Though the city lies to the north of the Chihuahuan Desert, parts of Albuquerque shares a similar aridity, temperature regime, and natural vegetation to that of the Chihuahuan Desert, namely the upper elevations with desert grassland and sand scrub plant communities. The eastern areas of the Greater Albuquerque Area, known as the East Mountain Area, lie the Southwestern Tablelands and are sometimes considered a southern extension of the central high plains and northeast New Mexico highlands. To the north is the Southern Rockies ecoregion in the Jemez Mountains.