Caribou-Targhee

http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/caribou/

The 3 million acre Caribou-Targhee National Forest lies primarily in southeastern Idaho, stretching from the Montana border on the north to the Utah boarder on the south. Topography ranges from low-lying lava flows to lofty mountain peaks. Some of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s great rivers – the Henrys Fork, the Snake, and Bear Rivers flow through the Caribou-Targhee. Snowmelt, springs, and seeps provide the flows for thousands of miles of smaller rivers and creeks across the forest. Vegetation ranges from aspen, maple, Douglas fir, and lodgepole pine forests to vast expanses of sagebrush steppe grasslands and mountain meadows. There are more than 334 vertebrate species that call the forest home – from grizzly bears, wolverine, moose, and mountain goats to pikas, spotted frogs, mountain whitefish, and two species of native cutthroat trout.

In the past the C-TNF has witnessed the most extensive logging and road building of any forest in the GYE. The clear-cuts are still visible from space and the road network still causes harm to grizzly bears, continues to dump sediment in adjacent streams, and has become the playground of motorized recreationists. Phosphate mining on the Caribou zone of the forest has led to widespread selenium contamination of streams, soils, and plant communities. The consequences of decades of phosphate mining are a scarred landscape, extirpation of native cutthroat trout from some streams, and health warnings that caution parents from letting their children eat fish from other streams.

What is Greater Yellowstone Coalition Doing in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest?

Idaho’s Roadless Areas at Risk

The state of Idaho has more public land and wilderness than any other state in the lower 48. Idaho also has 9.3 million acres of land that is designated as Roadless Areas, land is free from roads and accessed mainly by trails. Idaho's Roadless Areas make up the core of the last intact forest ecosystem in the lower 48 states — where all of the native plants, fish and wildlife — from the smallest plant to the largest predator — can still be found. The Roadless areas of Idaho’s National Forests are of statewide, national and global significance.

What is Greater Yellowstone Coalition Doing in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest?
	Phosphate Mining
	Phosphate mining in Idaho is concentrated in the southeast part of the state, near Idaho Falls, Soda Springs, and Pocatello. Phosphate is the largest industrial mineral produced in Idaho with yields amounting to 12 percent of the nation's total phosphate output. The processed ore is used largely for fertilizer.

The Caribou-Targhee in the Media

Mar 20, 2008 - Wild at Heart (Open Letter) -

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Top Photo: Rick Meis; Inset: GYC Archives