A 20,000 hectare
biotope in the southwest of Spīn Ghar is listed as an important bird area in Afghanistan. The lower hills are mostly barren and treeless, but
pine grows on the main mountains that form the
East Afghan montane conifer forests.
Agriculture and forestry Above the nearly barren lower slopes, forests of pine and
deodar cedar thrived on the main range, but devastation during the
Afghan civil wars reduced timber resources. The valleys still support some agriculture. The rivers of the White Mountains serve the irrigation of the fields in the densely populated river valleys, which allows the pelvis of Jalalabad multiple harvests. Wheat, maize, various types of vegetables (onions, green beans, okra, tomatoes, etc.), cotton, opium poppies, lemons, sugar cane, and olives are also grown around Jalalabad. The Bara high valley in the southeast of the range is one of the most intensively used agricultural areas of the Pakistani tribal areas under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Older reports speak of rich orchards in the valleys of Spīn Ghar with mulberry and pomegranate trees. Wood from the eastern Afghan forests has been exported mainly to Pakistan since the 19th century, and in increasingly irresponsible quantities, so that Afghanistan imposed a complete export ban in 1975, which smugglers circumvented. In addition to the actual forestry there is or was a collection economy for pistachio nuts and the edible seeds of
Pinus gerardiana. ==Passes==