White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer named from the white underside of its bushy tail, 

which it flashes to warn of danger.

The Columbia River Wetlands with its patchwork landscape of dense thickets, open grass glades and water, provides excellent habitat for White-tailed Deer.  In winter whitetails eat mostly twigs of woody plants and cured herbs. So the cottonwood and willow groves along the valley bottom gives them rich feeding areas as well as good hiding places. With this kind of home there is no need to migrate, allowing White-tailed Deer to live out their entire lives within a 5 square km home range.

Wintering Elk

Ninety percent of the elk in the Upper Columbia basin 

winter in or near the wetlands

Winter is a critical season for elk. Particulary for the bulls that enter the winter after an exhausting fall rut. A long winter with dep snow can mean starvation or make elk so weak they become easy pickins for cougar and wolves.

One way to endure winter is to avoid it. But for animals that don’t hibernate or migrate to warmer climates it means having to cope with the snow. It seems that animals  with the longest legs and largest feet in relation to weight are the best adapated for survival in deep snow. Elk have long legs but their hooves are not large enough to keep them from sinking. So when the snow depth reaches two thirds up the elk’s legs - they are in trouble as valuable energy is lost from poughing through snow and digging for food with their hoofs. 

One of the advantages elk have is that they are both grazers and browsers. So when the grasses are buried too deep the elk are able to feed on the shrubs that stick out above the snow.


For news article see The Golden Scoop