Selkirk Ecosystem
The Selkirk Ecosystem covers 2,200 square miles, spanning portions of the western Idaho Panhandle, northeast Washington and southern British Columbia.
Vital Ground Partner Projects in the Selkirks:
• 3 habitat protection partnerships
• 1 conflict reduction partnership
• 139,360 acres conserved
Grizzlies in the Selkirks:
• Current population estimate of 70-80 bears
• Fragmented into two subpopulations (American and Canadian) of roughly equal size, with little evidence of genetic exchange
• Habitat cores include Idaho state lands, portions of Colville and Idaho Panhandle national forests, and West Arm Provincial Park
• Communities within or adjacent include: Sandpoint, Bonner’s Ferry, Priest Lake, Creston, and Nelson
Luxor Linkage
• Conservation Partner: The Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Partnership Type: Habitat Protection
• Size: 960 acres
• Vital Ground since: 2016
Grizzly bears don’t recognize international borders, so Vital Ground doesn’t let them limit our work. We were delighted to provide a partner grant for The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Luxor Linkage acquisition, a project to protect 960 acres of remarkable connective habitat between the Selkirk and Purcell Mountains of British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies to their east. Grizzlies, endangered badgers, mountain goats and moose are just a few of the species that will benefit from the conservation of this lush wetland area.
Bennett Meadows
• Conservation Partner: Western Rivers Conservancy
• Partnership Type: Habitat Protection
• Size: 2,400 acres
• Vital Ground since: 2014
Slowly but surely, grizzly bears are returning to Washington state, and Vital Ground is lending a helping hand. As our first habitat project in the Evergreen State, we helped conserve Bennett Meadows, a lush, wildlife-rich zone just south of the Canadian border in northeast Washington.
It’s part of a larger borderland area known as The Wedge, an important low-elevation mix of forest, meadow, riparian and wetland habitat that helps extend the Selkirk Ecosystem to the west. With Vital Ground providing a $25,000 partner grant, Western Rivers Conservancy of Portland, Ore., purchased the 2,400-acre tract. An inholding surrounded by Colville National Forest, Bennett Meadows could eventually play a key role in connecting the Selkirks with the North Cascades Ecosystem, located less than a hundred miles to the west. The project is already paying dividends—not far from Bennett Meadows, biologists recently captured their first grizzly in Washington for tracking research in more than 30 years.
Darkwoods Complex
• Conservation Partner: The Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Partnership Type: Habitat Protection
• Size: 136,000 acres
• Vital Ground since: 2008
Old growth forests, subalpine meadows, lush lakeshores and river valleys—the West Kootenay region of British Columbia boasts a huge diversity of life and a vast network of connected habitat that stretches across the border into the Selkirk Mountains of the Idaho Panhandle and the Purcell Range of Montana’s northwest corner. That’s why Vital Ground was eager to contribute to the largest private-land conservation effort in Canadian history: The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s sprawling Darkwoods complex.
Selkirk Community Outreach
• Conservation Partner: Idaho Fish & Wildlife Foundation
• Partnership Type: Conflict Reduction
• Vital Ground since: 2004
The Selkirks serve as a critical funnel for wide-ranging Canadian grizzlies. Bears with the itch to roam may pass south through the range into Idaho, then on to the Cabinet-Yaak and Bitterroot ecosystems. But for such movements to occur, social tolerance must follow the animals across state and national borders. That’s why we were eager to offer a grant to the Idaho Fish & Wildlife Foundation in support of Idaho Fish & Game’s Grizzly Bear Education and Enforcement Project. The initiative sends state wildlife managers into the rural communities of the Selkirk area with the goal of educating citizens on bear safety and conflict-reduction practices while ensuring that the grizzly’s protections under the Endangered Species Act remain enforced.
Other Conservation Partner Projects
in Grizzly Recovery Ecosystems
Vital Ground works to protect and restore habitat for wild grizzly populations in ecosystems where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated grizzly bear recovery zones and where state wildlife management agencies have placed an emphasis on conserving the species.