Vancouver, Whistler & Vancouver Island - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 882

spotted along highways, especially in the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in
southeast Oregon.
One of the elusive animals in Mt Rainier and other parks is the white mountain goat,
which lives on high peaks and alpine meadows. Black bears and mountain lions also in-
habit Mt Rainier and other Pacific Northwest forests, but their encounters with humans
are rare. The beaver is another little-seen creature, but in the late 18th century they were
so numerous that fur trading essentially started the exploration of the Pacific Northwest.
It's also North America's largest rodent.
The marmot, another big rodent (which looks more like a fuzz ball), is often seen
around mountain parking lots and campgrounds, especially in popular places such as
Olympic National Park or Manning Provincial Park. Marmots are adorable and might
beg for food scraps, but no matter how lovingly they gaze into your eyes, resist the
temptation to feed them - or any other wild creature.
If you're very lucky, you might spot wild mustangs in southeast Oregon's Steens
Mountain Range.
Fish
The rich ocean environment of the Pacific Northwest creates ideal conditions for a tre-
mendous variety of fish and for the marine mammals that feed on them. Attesting to this
fact are the many harbors and small fishing towns lining the coast.
Although salmon could be considered the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest, even loc-
als can be forgiven for having a hard time keeping the names of different species straight.
Not only do scientists argue over how to name and separate the seven species of salmon
that are currently recognized, but these important fish have been given dozens of confus-
ing common names such as king, coho, chinook, sockeye and pink, to name but a few.
Salmon have a unique lifestyle of migrating out to sea as juveniles, then returning to
the stream of their birth to breed and die as adults. The annual run of returning salmon
used to be one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the planet, with 11 to 16 million sal-
mon in the Columbia River alone. Dams, habitat destruction, overfishing and hatcheries
have reduced these majestic runs to mere shadows of their former selves, but conserva-
tion efforts - including the taking down of some dams - are being made to help bring
back their numbers. You can easily view salmon in places such as the Bonneville Dam on
the Columbia River, which has a fish-viewing window (October and November are the
best months).
Close to the Bonneville Dam is the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, where you can glimpse
the odd-looking white sturgeon (and say 'hi' to Herman the 10ft sturgeon, who has his
own Facebook page). Historically, this monster fish can weigh up to 1800lb, grow to 20ft