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Fauna Series No. 1
Methods
Fauna of the National Parks
of the United States
CONSPECTUS OF WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS OF EACH PARK
MOUNT RAINIER
Mount Rainier is another mountain-top park. It is approximately 18 miles square. Except for the east boundary which follows the crest of the Cascades, the park is laid out without regard for faunal requirements. It is therefore not a biological unit, and suffers from the usual faunal complications.
This could be largely corrected by extending the south boundary to include the Cowlitz River valley as far as Lewis; then swinging northwest to include Bear Prairie, by following the crest of Skate Mountain and the crest of the Sawtooth Range; then north to the Nisqually entrance. This would provide adequate winter range for the mountain animals which drift down into these valleys in winter. Other extensions of territory along the west and north boundaries would also be desirable, since it is evident that a park 18 miles square, with nearly a third of its area under perpetual ice, is much too small for a wild-life preserve.
The park is completely surrounded by modern highways, which destroy a great part of the inaccessibility and safety of the wild life of the region. There will be rapid drains upon the fauna of the park itself as the animal resources of the surrounding territory are decimated. The park wild life is in great need of added territory and added protection. Its own refuge should not be broken by further roads or developments. With reservations, this much might be said: There is a certain minimum of wilderness area below which some species drop out with further transections.
FIGURE 52. – A very few wolverines still linger
around the Alpine fringes of Mount Rainier's
ice cap, but the park
area is too limited to insure perpetuation of this rare
animal.
Photograph taken October 4, 1930, in Yakima Park, Mount
Rainier. Wild Life Survey No. 1301
BLACK BEAR (Euarctos americanus). – According to park reports, the black bear is on the increase in the park, and its depredations are becoming more frequent. It would seem inadvisable, therefore, to augment this increase by artificial measures, such as the feeding of garbage. Since the bear show is not intrenched in Mount Rainier as it is in some of the other parks, it is suggested as an experiment that there be no feeding of garbage to the bears of the park. Such an experiment might serve as a basis for comparison with conditions in other parks where artificial feeding is carried on. A special attempt should at the same time be made to bear-proof every source of food in the centers of human habitation, so that no food would be available to the bears in these areas. Possibly, constructive measures could be deduced from the experiment.
WOLVERINE (Gulo luscus). – This problem has already been treated on pages 44-46. It is important to add here, however, that the few wolverines of the park are in immediate need of added territory and absolute protection from poaching. The recent extension to the crest of the Cascades should improve this situation. The same is true for the other fur-bearers.
TIMBER WOLF (Canis gigas). – The last wolf seen in the park was killed in the Ohanapecosh section in 1911. Since that time there have been rumors of their presence. On September 30, 1930, we saw and measured wolf tracks on the Cowlitz Divide. Recently there have been other reports of wolf tracks seen in the park. It seems justifiable, then, to say that perhaps a few wolves still remain in the region, or have drifted in from elsewhere. Extension of the park boundaries would insure greater protection for the few remaining wolves. There may also be a few wolves still present in the Olympic Peninsula.
MOUNTAIN LION (Felis oregonensis oregonensis). – Mountain lions are scarce in the park region. They have been much reduced in the past, and have a very small range within the park. In the winter of 1929-30, a family of five mountain lions was killed in the Cowlitz River valley between Lewis and the park. Lions are needed in the Mount Rainier fauna. They are now protected in the park, but, since their number is so reduced, they also need the protection of the proposed extension to the south.
PACIFIC BEAVER (Castor canadensis pacificus). – Beavers used to be in the park. "Dr. A. K. Fisher records that several beavers lived at Longmire Springs until 1896, when a trapper killed them all."29 They are now around Longmire again.
APLODONTIA (Aplodontia rufa rainieri). – The little mountain beavers are abundant in and around the park, especially in the Bear Prairie region and in Stevens Canyon, where they have girdled and killed a few trees. Their chief nuisance is in their undermining trails.
They are a very ancient and primitive type of rodent, widely distributed at one time, now confined to a narrow strip along the Pacific Coast. It is not probable that they will ever be a serious problem in heavily forested areas, although they flourish in cleared areas and old burns such as Bear Prairie. Their value to the forest floor, and as interesting primitive remnants of an earlier fauna, make them especially desirable members of the park fauna.
COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER (Odocoileus columbianus columbianus). – Deer are plentiful in the park. But their winter range is outside the park boundaries. Mr. Richard, district ranger at Ohanapecosh, said that deer drift down the Cowlitz River valley toward the junction of the Clear Creek Fork in winter. He has counted 23 deer within half a mile along the road in this area. The Cowlitz River valley in this neighborhood is occupied by mountaineers who believe in their primordial right to take game as they see fit. Consequently there is considerable winter killing of deer, and effective prosecution is practically impossible because of public sentiment. One individual is reported to hunt deer persistently here for the hides.
It is especially necessary that this region be included in the park, as outlined on page 126. Part of the area is covered with magnificent forest, worthy of a national park, and much of the rest is the picturesque Cowlitz River valley. This area is absolutely essential to the welfare of the Mount Rainier fauna.
AMERICAN WAPITI (Cervus canadensis canadensis). – Since 1912 elk from Yellowstone have been introduced into the national forests around Mount Rainier. They have greatly increased in numbers, and have strayed into the park from time to time. It is reported that some of the native elk were still present at the time the Yellowstone elk were brought in. It is very probable that the elk native to Mount Rainier were the Roosevelt elk – a larger, darker animal still found in the Olympics.
Any further introductions of elk in this region should be the Roosevelt elk. However, it seems that there is nothing to be done about the situation at present.
MOUNTAIN GOAT (Oreamnos americanus americanus). – Mountain goats are increasing in the park. This is very encouraging, and no complications have resulted yet or may be reasonably expected.
29 Mammals and Birds of Mount Rainier National Park, by Taylor, Walter P., and Shaw, William T. United States Department of the Interior, 1927, p. 108.
PACIFIC COAST PARKS
Crater Lake | Lassen Volcanic | Mount Rainier | Sequoia and General Grant | Yosemite
PARKS
Southwest | Rocky Mountain | Pacific Coast | Eastern | Territorial
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Last Modified: Tues,
Feb 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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