Stories from the field: Searching for Wilderness in Idaho’s High Divide landscape
Morning fog is lifting off the talus slope just below the ridgeline as I vehemently scan to catch a glimpse of anything that calls this high alpine slope ‘home’. An echo of small rocks trickling down the slope directly across the basin draws the attention of my binoculars, then spotting scope. There it is. Another wonderous animal that shares this inspirational landscape and its harsh ridgetop weather, low oxygen density, and greatly exposed faces.
It’s a mature male bighorn sheep and a younger buddy – full curl and half curl respectively. Suddenly, like sparks from the strike on a ferro rod, a cluster burst of questions occur in my head. Why here? Why this aspect, this elevation? Where does it find forage, water, and cover? Where does it winter and how does it get there? Like most sightings of a rare animal, I’m always hit with a barrage of questions trying to connect dots for how to find this species again with consistency.
A male bighorn sheep navigates a steep cliffside. (Photo Diane Renkin/YNP)
At this point, I have been hiking off-trail observing the High Divide landscape for almost a week as the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s wilderness inventory technician, veering from ridgetops to drainage bottoms and back up again looking for areas that exhibit “wilderness character.” Wilderness character are qualities that areas must embody to be federally designated as wilderness and protected under the Wilderness Act. Qualities of wilderness include an area being natural, undeveloped, untrammeled, providing opportunity for solitude, and other features and values.
Over the course of the summer, this work has brought me to some of the most remote and beautiful corners of this vast landscape. What strikes me, beside the steepness and prominence of this particular section of the High Divide, is the rich biodiversity and the specific distribution of certain plant and animal species.
The High Divide is a stunning landscape that straddles the Montana-Idaho border and Continental Divide west of Yellowstone National Park. It’s the only semi-contiguous strip of habitat that connects the great Frank Church Wilderness of Idaho (the largest contiguous wilderness in the Lower 48) and the amazing biodiversity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the east (the last fully intact ecosystem of the West). This corridor is supremely important for wildlife like grizzly bears as it connects the two largest reservoirs of habitat and wild spaces in the western United States.
Sunset over jagged peaks in the High Divide landscape of Idaho and Montana. (Photo GYC/Andrew Jakovac)
Most of the High Divide landscape is national forest land managed by the Caribou-Targhee National Forest (CTNF). Motorized recreation is one of the predominant pursuits on the Caribou-Targhee and can lead to a proliferation of roads, habitat fragmentation, and increased human presence and disturbance on the landscape. When left unchecked, these activities threaten the wildlife and lands of landscapes like the High Divide.
While the CTNF is responsible for the management of these critical lands, the Forest Service still needs assistance identifying the boundary lines for areas that include high natural values and wilderness character – areas that should be considered for formal wilderness designations in future forest planning processes. That’s where my role as GYC’s wilderness inventory technician comes into play.
I provide boots-on-the-ground support, gathering pertinent evidence through photo documentation and actualizing values with detailed photos, notes, and GPS locations. This information provides an opportunity for the Forest Service and organizations like GYC to secure and preserve high priority migration corridors and open space for wildlife through the forest planning process.
Storms roll over the valleys and peaks of the High Divide as sun shines through foreboding clouds. (GYC/Photo Andrew Jakovac)
This in and of itself is a large competition. Special interest groups as well as individuals race to prove with probable cause that their preferred uses of Forest Service land are most important and should be prioritized.
As I continue watching the bighorn sheep on their morning route, I start to transpose human characteristics to the natural world. Yes, indeed, competition is prevalent. Just as the plants compete for nutrients and light, so do ungulates for the best mate, and birds for the best nesting locale. While in the human world, failure is normally greeted with ‘its ok, you can try again,’ it is nearly opposite for the natural world. Failing or losing frequently equates to death and loss of future generations. Access to secure habitat is the single most important factor contributing to the success or failure of a species, which adds gravity to our efforts to protect vital wildlife habitat like that found in the High Divide.
A sea of wildflowers in full bloom on the High Divide landscape. (Photo GYC/Andrew Jakovac)
Nobody likes an unfair fight and, for the most part, it seems that natural predator-prey conflicts are fairly equal in challenge. However, as displayed in human habitation of the earth, a powerful force can assume ownership and management of a landscape overnight – disregarding its current and previous natural inhabitants – changing it forever. Regardless of our ability to dominate a landscape, we owe a certain amount of diligence to preserving habitat and living culture of those things that existed there previously.
Andrew and his trusty four-legged sidekick on the search for wilderness character amongst a field of wildflowers. (Photo Andrew Jakovac/GYC)
There are many who wish to manage for a symbiotic interface with the natural world because we know that it gives us more than wildlife habitat connectivity at face value. The beautiful, flowing landscape of the High Divide and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem connects us spiritually, mentally, and physically. It synchronizes all that we feel, think, and sacrifice to what we were previously – just a simple species in the natural world striving to survive and provide for future generations, just like our wild neighbors.
This is why the wilderness inventory technician position is a catalyst for a fair fight in land management, providing a voice for those creatures who cannot fight for themselves or their habitat. You, too, can use your voice to speak up for the lands and wildlife of Greater Yellowstone. Consider signing up for our emails and becoming an advocate for this remarkable place.
—Andrew Jakovac, Wilderness Inventory Technician
Andrew works for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition as a field technician to identify and document potential wilderness areas on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The wilderness inventory technician position is supported by a partnership between GYC and The Wilderness Society.
