It may be more widely known for its specific brand of everyone’s favorite starch. However, there is a state in the Mountain West region whose official nickname may be a bit more apt than its reputational title: “The Gem State” of Idaho.
While Americans love their mashed, baked, french-fried, scalloped, diced, or hashed offerings from the colloquially known “Potato State,” its official nickname better describes the offerings of the 14th largest state in the Union.
“Gems” come in many forms. According to the Idaho Department of Education, some 72 varieties are mined in Idaho. However, the state’s other natural gems are its abundant and diverse wildlife — a treasured offering of a different sort.
Idaho is home to a smorgasbord of wildlife of the American West.
Idaho’s gloriously beautiful backcountry is teeming with animal life, from the grizzly to the Canadian lynx and the bighorn sheep, mule deer, wolves, cougar, and beaver.
However, Idaho is not immune to the effects of overpopulation, excessive development, and climate change, which threaten to make some of its most treasured creatures virtually extinct. Thankfully, these three endangered species within Idhao’s borders are now under federal and state protection and, hopefully, on their way back to prominence and a thriving future.
Read on to learn more about Idaho’s three endangered species.
Sockeye Salmon
Photo Courtesy Idaho Fish and Game
Listed as an endangered species more than 30 years ago, the Sockeye salmon is making quite the comeback these days! It is a migratory fish species that would make its way to Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley and Payette River Basin by the tens of thousands a few short decades ago.
The fish saw their numbers dwindle to almost zero not that long ago due to over-damming that reduced their range and population beginning in the early 1900s. According to Idaho Fish and Game, today, a “captive broodstock” program that started in the 1990s has the Sockeye salmon population making a comeback in the state.
White Sturgeon
Photo Courtesy Brandon Honig/USFWS
This endangered species belongs to the most endangered family of fish species in the world: sturgeon. The white sturgeon that frequent Idaho’s Snake River are some of the largest freshwater fish in North America and one of the most popular gamefish on the river.
Historically, these Idaho-based sturgeon largely ranged the Snake, the lower Salmon, and Kootenai Rivers. However, due to degraded water flows, splintered habitats, and altered stream routes, the white sturgeon’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) status on the Office of Species Conservation in Idaho website is “threatened.”
Today, a concerted effort is being made to foster the maintenance of the white sturgeon’s natural habitats. It includes collecting, fertilizing, and eventually rearing and releasing white sturgeon eggs to proliferate throughout the area and thrive once more in Idaho’s mighty rivers.
Woodland Caribou
Photo Courtesy Idaho Fish and Game
There are four recognized subspecies of caribou, and Idaho is home to the southernmost ranging set, the woodland caribou. Typically found in steep, mountainous terrain, far from the eyes of human civilization, this subspecies found itself in grave danger of dwindling to nearly nothing in numbers, and in 2019, it was designated as “endangered” under the ESA.
A non-migratory subspecies of caribou, these mighty beasts tend to move up and down elevation while largely staying in the same general region. Thus, as population and outgrowth from human expansion grow, in addition to increased predation and effects from climate change, the critical habitats the woodland caribou inhabit have become smaller, leading to lesser numbers over recent decades.
Its recent inclusion on the endangered species list was a positive move. Likewise, with efforts made by the Office of Species Conservation in Idaho, there is the belief that the woodland caribou can and will once again thrive in the upper northern region of the state.
