Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem
The 2,600-square-mile Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem encompasses the Cabinet and Purcell mountain ranges in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho. Only 35 to 45 bears survive in the ecosystem, and even this small population is divided. About 25 to 30 bears live in the northern part of the ecosystem, which is contiguous with grizzly habitat in Canada. Yet the 10 to 15 grizzlies remaining in the Cabinets are apparently isolated south of the Kootenai River (Servheen 2006). Increasing development, highway traffic and a major railway with more than 40 trains a day fragment the ecosystem and exacerbate the challenges facing these few bears. To date, Vital Ground has helped protect more than 2,000 acres in the region.
Cabinet-Yaak Projects:
Curley Creek Conservation Easements (110 acres), Boundary County, ID
Campbell/Fuqua (160 acres), Yaak Valley (Fowler Creek), MT
Kidd Creek Project (88 acres)-British Columbia, Canada
Clifty View Foothills Forest Legacy Project (1,647 acres), Cabinet Mountains, Bonners Ferry, ID
Bass (115 acres), Yaak Valley, MT
Poston-Lance (160 acres), Kootenai National Forest (Dodge Creek), MT
Trego Sanitation Project, Trego, MT
Curley Creek Conservation Easements (110 acres), Boundary County, ID Campbell/Fuqua (160 acres), Yaak Valley (Fowler Creek), MT Kidd Creek Project (88 acres)-British Columbia, Canada Clifty View Foothills Forest Legacy Project (1,647 acres), Cabinet Mountains, Bonners Ferry, ID Bass (115 acres), Yaak Valley, MT Poston-Lance (160 acres), Kootenai National Forest (Dodge Creek), MT Trego Sanitation Project, Trego, MT