Yellow-pine chipmunks favor open, sunny conifer forest and rocky clearings, exactly the mix of habitat spanning the Sawtooth National Recreation Area’s mountain forest and the Idaho Panhandle’s timbered ridges, with the Snake River Plain marking the drier southern edge of that range.
Records climb sharply into an August peak, more than 40 times the March low, tracking the heart of the active season when this day-active chipmunk is out foraging for seeds and insects before a long winter of hibernation. With 289 total records, more than a third from iNaturalist photographs, this is one of the more visibly documented chipmunks in this rank range, and NatureServe rates it secure (S5) statewide.
Full species profile
