Columbia Mountain Ranger Talk

High mountain winter habitat for woodland mountain caribou

 

During our time in Glacier and Revelstoke we were able to take in a Ranger 'Campfire' program one evening.  So here is a little Ranger humor, "Do you know how to tell the difference between black bear and grizzly poop?  Black bear scat has seeds and berries in it and grizzly's smells like pepper and has little bells in it."  I love Ranger humor...  Seriously from the talk we learned more about the inland temperate rainforest and other ecosystems in the Columbia Mountains and about one of its special animals, the woodland mountain caribou.

The temperate rainforest is not the only ecosystem in the Columbia Mountains. The subalpine forest, the alpine tundra and the avalanche chutes are the three other life zones in this area, each with its own unique plants and animals. The ranger said that it might be more correct to call the Columbia Mountains a ‘snow forest.’  Annually about 50 feet of snow and 24 inches of rain fall in Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. Most of the moisture in this rainforest comes from snow and snow melt.

Inland temperate rainforest - woodland mountain caribou habitat

 

We also learned about the woodland mountain caribou that has dwindled to only 7 animals here in these 2 parks.  This species of caribou has especially adapted to go up into the mountains in the winter rather than down into the valleys like the other species of caribou. They can eat the boxwood and other shrubs that grow in old growth forests and then as the snow covers these plants they can switch to eating lichens. They are able to ‘splay’ their large hooves and dew claws like snow shoes which allows them to walk on top of the snow to reach the lichens growing on branches. What cool survival adaptations!  But as the old growth forests diminish so does their habitat.  Much research is going on now to try to help the caribou re-establish in Glacier and Revelstoke.

Lichen, a preferred food of the caribou