Wind River Range - Ecology

Ecology

The Winds are known to have a small Grizzly Bear population, primarily in the northernmost areas. Other mammals include the black bear, elk, moose, mule deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and wolverine. Bald eagles, falcons and hawks are just a few of the 300 species of birds known to inhabit the region. The streams and lakes are home to cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, brown trout, Mackinaw Trout (Lake Trout), and Golden Trout — about 2.5 million of which were stocked by a local explorer named Finis Mitchell and his wife during the Great Depression. The forests are dominated by lodgepole pine, whitebark pine, subalpine fir, and Engelmann spruce.

The range sits alongside many of the animal migration routes in the United States and contains several important passes, notably South Pass, (7,412 ft / 2,301 m), at the south end of the range, which was one of the more important passes on the Oregon Trail as it passed through the Rockies. Aside from South Pass, which is at the southernmost tip of the range, no roads cross the mountains until Union Pass, (9,210 ft / 2,807 m) at the northern terminus of the range. There are many passes between tall peaks across the continental divide, which runs through the entire range.