Wildlife Sustained by the Eldorado National Forest
Animal species: Estimated 340 total species, including 202 birds, 79 mammals, 24 reptiles, 20 fish, and 15 amphibians.
Fish: trout (brook, brown, golden, lake, rainbow), kokanee salmon, and smallmouth bass.
Mammals: black bear, California mule deer (numbering 10,000 to 16,000), mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, weasels, raccoons, jack rabbits, cottontail rabbits, porcupine, California ground squirrel, marmot, Sierra pocket gophers, and grey squirrels.
Birds: mountain quail, grouse, mourning doves, band-tailed pigeons, wild turkeys, golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, sharp-shinned hawk, great horned owl, and turkey vultures.
Song birds: 100 species, including mountain chickadee, Stellar's jay, Clark's nutcracker, pygmy nuthatch, robin, red shafted flicker, myrtle warbler, fox sparrow, rufous-sided towhee, Oregon junco, white-crowned sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, white-headed woodpecker, and acorn woodpecker.
Endangered species: bald eagle (found in winter months), and Peregrine falcon (sighted during the summer nesting period).
Sensitive listed species: Sierra Nevada red foxes, pine martens, fishers, spotted owls, great gray owls, goshawks, and willow flycatchers.
Livestock: 12,000 head of not-so-wild cattle graze on 300,000 acres in the Eldorado National Forest per month. |
