Franklin County, in the heart of the Columbia Basin, holds 117 of Washington’s 261 Washington ground squirrel records. Grant, Adams, Walla Walla, Columbia, and Whitman counties make up most of the rest. The picture this draws is precise. The species belongs to the shrub-steppe between the Tri-Cities and the Palouse, where sagebrush flats and deep, workable soil survive. West of the Basin the record simply stops.
The seasonal pattern is a ground squirrel’s tightrope. Records start in February and March, crest in April and May, and fall silent after June. The squirrels pass the hot months and the winter alike underground, visible for only a few weeks of the year. NatureServe ranks the species imperiled in the state, and the IUCN lists it as Near Threatened. The record also shows how localized the known colonies are. Eleven counties have at least one report, but a single county carries nearly half of them. Even the named wildlife areas hold only scattered documentation.
Full species profile
