This Mountain block is wholly confined to Mwanga District in Kilimanjaro region. It ranges from 500 m altitude up to 2,113 m altitude. The area is heavily populated with 56639 people distributed across 40 villages in the highlands. Most of the land outside the government reserves and clan forests is farmland.
The North Pare contains 3 Forest Reserves (Kindoroko, Minja, Mramba) and 3 proposed Forest Reserves (Kiverenge, Kamwella I, Kamwella II) containing Eastern Arc forest totalling some 7,407 ha. There are also 289 clan forests that cover 371 ha and which afford excellent protection for these small forest patches. The forest habitat ranges from montane forest to dry montane forest and dry woodlands and heathlands, including species such as Prunus africana, Albizia gummifera, Newtonia buchananii. Many of the forests are quite dry when compared with others within the Eastern Arc range.
The forests support 3 species of vertebrates that are confined to the Eastern Arc mountains.
In terms of biodiversity the North Pare forests support 3 species of vertebrates that are confined to the Eastern Arc mountains. Similar low rates of endemism are seen in the plants. However, many of the North Pare forests have not been surveyed biologically, particularly for amphibians, reptiles and plants.
The forests of the North Pare Mountains are threatened by fire, grazing in the forests and some pit sawing. When fires enters a natural forest area the habitat is often then invaded by black wattle and Eucalyptus, which then dominates the area.