Sensitive species inhabit White Clouds
Mountains
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
A bald eagle soars over Salmon River
country. Express photo by Willy Cook
With pristine forests, pure alpine lakes
and lush meadows, the Boulder-White Cloud mountains provide habitat to an array
of sensitive fish and wildlife species, including five that are protected by the
federal Endangered Species Act.
- Reintroduced to Idaho in 1995, the
threatened gray wolf has found an abundance of suitable range in the White
Cloud Mountains. At least one pack of wolves established itself in the western
White Clouds this summer. Individual wolves also have been spotted this year
on the east side of the mountains.
- The U.S. Forest Service has determined
that thousands of acres of land in the region provide excellent habitat for
the threatened Canada lynx, which occurs in small numbers in central Idaho.
Canada lynx have historically been spotted in the White Clouds, while their
prey species—such as snowshoe hare, grouse, and a variety of small
mammals—occur in adequate numbers to support lynx.
- Bald eagles, also a threatened species
in the Lower 48 States under the ESA, are known to occur in northern sections
of the White Clouds, although much of the mountain range has been deemed
unsuitable for the birds. Proposals are pending to remove the bald eagle from
the federal list of endangered species.
- Peregrine falcons—removed from the ESA
in 1999—are also found in the greater Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Parts
of the White Clouds are considered suitable habitat for the once-endangered
falcons.
- The threatened bull trout, a species of
char native to Idaho, is known to inhabit specific streams and tributaries in
the White Cloud Mountains.
- The native Chinook salmon, which
migrates annually from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in freshwater systems in and
around the White Clouds, is also listed a threatened species under the ESA.
In addition, two sensitive—and
elusive—species of mammals that are rarely seen by humans, the wolverine and the
fisher, have been sighted in or around the Boulder-White Clouds. The westslope
cuttroat, the native trout of central and nothern Idaho, is managed as a
"species of concern" by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
The Boulder-White Clouds also provide
habitat for significant populations of elk, mule deer, antelope, bighorn sheep,
mountain goat, pine marten, coyote, mountain lion, black bear and a variety of
small fur-bearing mammals.