The raccoon is one of the most recorded mammals in Oregon’s atlas, with 2,601 records that touch nearly every county. Multnomah County leads with 392, Clatsop follows with 373, and the map runs from city neighborhoods and coastal lowlands to Cascade forests and desert rivers.
Equipped for almost everything
Raccoons eat almost anything, from crayfish and clams to fruit, eggs, insects, and corn, and their nimble forepaws pry open shells, latches, and garbage cans with equal ease. Water is the common thread in their habitat, and Oregon supplies it everywhere. Records run through the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area and the Willamette River Greenway in the valley, out to the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Area on the coast, and up into Deschutes, Mt. Hood, and Siuslaw national forests.
No off-season in a mild state
Raccoons do not hibernate. In cold spells they den for days at a time in hollow trees, brush piles, or outbuildings, but Oregon’s winters are gentle enough to keep them active all year. Records appear in every month with little winter drop, and the June high fits the season when females lead their newly mobile young out to forage at night.
Status in Oregon
NatureServe ranks the raccoon S5, Secure, in Oregon, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
