Native squirrels battle for survival in region’s forests

Published 9:00 pm Friday, October 7, 2005

My 80-something mother was off the couch in a flash, out the front door and down the steps. Her amazingly (albeit selectively) fine-tuned ears had interpreted a thwack on the roof and a thud on the ground, and time was of the essence.

The Eastern gray squirrel dashed the length of a long limb, scurried down the tree trunk and sprinted in the same direction.

Mother, 10 feet from her goal, eyeballed the squirrel. The squirrel, also near the goal, eyeballed the human; speed and dexterity on one side, determination and a desire for mouth-watering walnut bread on the other.

Mother made her move; the squirrel backed off. She snatched the walnut and added it to the others in a hanging crab trap that doubled as an anti-squirrel device. Chalk this round up to mom.

I really don’t miss Eastern gray squirrels. For every funny anecdote there were 100 bird-feeder assaults. But I haven’t escaped them entirely.

The Easterns were introduced here in 1925, and now their population is larger than the native Western gray squirrels that live only in the south Puget Sound area (mainly on Fort Lewis), the Methow Valley and the north shore of Lake Chelan, and the river valleys of Klickitat and southern Yakima counties.

The Western is on the state threatened-species list, recognition of a plummeting population that was once common in the oak, pine and Douglas fir mix at low to middle elevations.

“It’s a beautiful, large gray-and-white squirrel,” said Elizabeth Rodrick, state Fish and Wildlife land conservation manager, of the Western grays, but never widespread.

“But as our oak woodlands have been developed, the Western gray squirrel has nearly disappeared.”

Females use oak cavities to raise young, Rodrick said. The state is developing a recovery plan with recommendations to include protecting habitat.

State law protects nest trees used by Western gray squirrels, which are the largest native tree squirrel in the state with a 12-inch body and a 12-inch white-edged tail, curved claws for tree climbing and prominent ears.

They eat acorns, pine nuts and berries but also work the ground for mushrooms and to bury nuts for later meals. In the fall they eat voraciously to increase their weight before winter.

The Western grays live about seven or eight years, and have summer and winter coats (although the tail molts but once in the summer).

They’ll build dreys, twig-and-leaf nests with a soft lining in the upper third of the tree canopy, but in the winter they often go into tree cavities, where their body heat in an enclosed space keeps them warm.

Other native squirrels in Washington are the Douglas, red and flying squirrels. The widespread Douglas is a small (7-inch body, 5-inch tail) tree squirrel. The red (8-inch body, 6-inch tail) has a prominent eye ring that helps distinguish it from the Douglas. Their ranges overlap in the North Cascades.

The Northern flying squirrel is smaller (5-inch body, 7-inch tail) and found in forests, although seldom seen. The nocturnal squirrel glides from branch to branch, taking advantage of a fur-covered section of skin from their wrist to ankle.

The introduced squirrels include the mid-sized Eastern gray (10-inch body, 8-inch tail) with its narrower tail and shorter ears than the Western gray; the fox (13-inch body, 11-inch tail), adapted to habitats with fewer trees; and the California ground squirrel (11-inch body, 7-inch tail), which entered the state in 1912, possibly crossing Columbia River bridges.

It’s fall once again, and the walnuts are beginning to drop. Wonder if mom will beat the squirrels enough for some walnut bread?

Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964, or www.songandword.com.