Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge

Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge is about 5 miles from the town of Bonner's Ferry, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. The property is a mix of hardwood and conifer forests dropping down to wetlands and associated uplands in the bottom of the Kootenai River Valley. More than 300 species of birds and mammals have been documented on the refuge, including thousands of migrating waterfowl of many different species. The refuge has more than 800 acres of wetlands that are managed to provide fish, invertebrates and aquatic vegetation for food. There's another 200 acres of land planted with grain and other crops specifically for the wildlife. The grain fields get flooded every year in the fall to make sure the waterfowl can get the food they need, then the fields are drained again every January and allowed to dry before planting again in the spring. The primary managed water source in the refuge is Myrtle Creek, and the water from that is diverted to maintain water levels in the permanent ponds. In the fall, water is pumped from Deep Creek and the Kootenai River to flood the grain fields.

You'll find lots of water and marsh birds, the usual gaggle of waterfowl (northern pintails, mallards, Canada geese, cinnamon and blue-winged teal, redheads, wood ducks, common golden-eyes and perhaps some tundra swans), muskrats, beavers and even moose in the wetlands. The planted fields seem to attract a lot of mice and other rodents, who, in turn, attract eagles, owls, hawks and coyotes. The ground-nesting birds like that tall, dense grass on the upland areas around the wetlands. The rodents seem to like that area of brush and grasses, too. In those uplands you'll also find raccoons, weasels, wood rats and songbirds. The refuge is at the eastern foot of the Selkirk Mountains and that makes for a narrow strip of coniferous and hardwood forest between the mountains and the wetlands. But under those trees you'll find mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose and black bear. The trees are also home to pileated woodpeckers, ruffed grouse and Cooper's hawks. Some of the riparian areas are lined with willow and cottonwood, giving the raptors a nice place to sit while they wait for lunch to meander along down below.

To get there: go west from Bonner's Ferry on Riverside Road (south bank of the Kootenai River) for 5 miles to the refuge entrance. The refuge office is another 2 miles past the entrance. These are narrow county-maintained roads and they see a lot of use by large logging trucks.