U.S. Seeks to Protect Forests to Save Wild Reindeer

The U.S. government proposed protecting old-growth forests in Idaho and Washington state on Tuesday to save the nation's dwindling population of mountain caribou, popularly known as wild reindeer. Under the plan, roughly 375,000 acres of mostly U.S. Forest Service land in the Selkirk Mountains in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington would be designated as critical habitat for the reclusive caribou. The estimated 46 mountain caribou in the Selkirks, which bridge the border between the United States and Canada, are all that remain in the country, said Susan Burch, branch chief in Idaho for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Unlike other types of caribou, some of which live in Alaska, the Selkirk band inhabit elevations above 4,000 feet and rely on old-growth forests for food and protection from predators, government scientists said. The greatest threat to survival of the animal is fragmentation of its territory by logging, wildfires, road-building and recreation trails, according to the service...more

80,000 acres or over 12 sections per animal?