Washington holds the western edge of the red-tailed chipmunk’s range, and the state’s entire record, 26 reports, fits in two counties. Pend Oreille County in the far northeast corner leads with 17. Spokane County adds 9, and Mount Spokane is the most reported named site. Everything else is silence. That doesn’t prove the chipmunk stops at the county line. But it confines the documented footprint to the Selkirk-influenced forests of the northeast, where moist conifer cover comes down out of British Columbia and Idaho.
June produced the most records, with a smaller August rise. That’s typical of a chipmunk that’s out and vocal in early summer and busy again at caching time. NatureServe ranks the species imperiled in Washington. The grade reflects how narrow and thinly documented its in-state range is. A confirmed record anywhere west of Pend Oreille County would genuinely widen the known picture.
Full species profile
