The Bears of Hall Mountain

By Kennon McClintock, North Idaho field representative

Several years ago, The Nature Conservancy purchased 320 acres of forestland at the base of Hall Mountain located in northern Boundary County, Idaho, just five miles from the Canada/USA border.

Hall Creek Forest. Photo by Lisa Eller/TNC.

This property, which was named the “Hall Creek Forest,” was destined to be subdivided — the long-term owners, who were exceptional stewards of this land for 40 years, had recently passed away and it had been listed with local realtors. It is a unique piece of ground with large trees, wetlands, spectacular mountain and valley views, located in the sunniest part of the county. This property shoulders up to Hall Mountain to the east which is mostly U.S. Forest Service forest lands. The Conservancy recognized the conservation values and was able to purchase it with the intent of placing a conservation easement on the property and eventually re-selling it to a like-minded buyer.

This low elevation property has a large, secluded, hardwood wetland, which provides quality habitat to a wide array of wildlife, especially bears: both black bears and the occasional grizzly bear. During the dry summer and fall months, there is readily available water and forbs — and bears are frequent visitors. Ample huckleberry patches can be found on Hall Mountain to the east, providing the main diet for the bears during summer and fall, and sustaining them during winter hibernation.

Remote cameras were placed in the wetlands and over the past two years we have taken many photos of bears – all black bears so far. There are many pictures of single bears, mostly browsing, climbing, and scratching on the cedar trees.

Images from Hall Creek Forest camera trap.

Surprisingly, many family units have shown up on film. This summer we had pictures of a mother and three cubs. The mother was teaching her offspring to climb a tree to seek safety and would continually push them up the tree from where she was standing. Most family pictures are of twins or single cubs, all practicing their climbing skills on these large cedar and cottonwood trees. In this part of Idaho, cubs can be subject to predation by other black bears, grizzly bears, and mountain lion, all which prowl on this property.

The Conservancy has been working with many private landowners in this part of Boundary County to acquire conservation easements in an attempt to keep the larger tracts intact and free of development.  These low-elevation valley lands, which offer water, food, security and thermal cover, provide important seasonal habitat for all types of wildlife. With the permanent protection of the Hall Creek Forest, the bears of Hall Mountain will always have a special place to come down to and visit. 

Fence Work for Wildlife at Crooked Creek

Chris Little, the Conservancy in Idaho's east Idaho field representative, sent the following dispatch from a successful volunteer day at our Crooked Creek project. 

On March 23rd six volunteers and two Conservancy employees traveled to Crooked Creek to (a) help put up fence flags on a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allotment fence and (b) remove old fence wire on the Conservancy's Bezold Ranch.

 

For the fence flag project, we successfully placed about 1700 flags on 2.25 miles of fencing. The fence divides the North and South Devil’s Gap pastures, which are BLM allotments that the Conservancy has grazing permits on.  The fence runs by Devil’s Gap--a natural geographic bottle neck that funnels moving wildlife, most notably sage-grouse and pronghorn, through a small area.  The fence and the resulting wildlife collisions are a hazard for these and other species; flagging the fence will help to reduce these unwanted collisions, which can injury or death to wildlife.  This area is especially important for lekking sage-grouse and these flags will reduce negative impacts to leks.

 

 

For the second half of the day, we traveled to the Bezold property where the crew worked to removed wire from old, abandoned fence lines that bisect the riparian valley through the center part of the property.  Such fences are a danger for moving wildlife and we intend to remove as much fence as possible to increase the quality of wildlife habitat.  This area is especially important for brood-rearing sage-grouse who seek these riparian areas for protection and forage.  We were able to drop about .75 miles of fence by the end of the day.

--Chris Little

{images by Chris Little and Marilynne Manguba}

Ernie the Elk Roams Again?

Blog readers from the Treasure Valley probably know the story of "Ernie the Elk," a large bull elk that--for reasons known only to him--decided to live among a herd of cattle along the Boise Greenbelt.

Ernie became a popular attraction along the Greenbelt. For two years, he lived among the cattle.

Last fall, he returned to the foothills, where a hunter allegedly shot him. This set off a fury of letters and controversy in the Idaho Statesman.

Tonight, as I jogged along the Greenbelt, I thought I saw a ghost. A very large bull elk suddenly bolted into cover as I ran.

Has Ernie returned? Has another bull elk taken his place? Was this just a random elk passing through?

Of course, we'll never know for sure. Perhaps more important than the individual elk, though, is the fact that we live in a state where such wildlife sightings are still possible.

Running along the Greenbelt in Idaho's largest city, I've seen river otters and beavers and long-tailed weasels and mule deer. Herds of pronghorn and elk roam the foothills.

Farther afield, there are bighorns and grizzlies, even caribou.

You never know what you might see when you go out for a hike or jog.

It's one of the important reasons why we live here. But as more people call Idaho home, we have to find a way to conserve wildlife habitat, so that future generations can still marvel at bull elk on their jogs.

As for "Ernie"? I won't reveal exactly where I saw him, for reasons that should be obvious. But if you're along the Greenbelt this weekend, look carefully. There's a bull elk out there. --Matt Miller