Top 5 Wildlife Migrations to See in Idaho

The Pahsimeroi and Lemhi rivers are waters that salmon, quite literally, will die for. Each year, these rivers and their tributaries mark the end of a 900-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean for the salmon. When they get to the small streams of central Idaho, they spawn and then die. After hatching and growing, young salmon—called smolts—will begin their own migration to the sea. Many salmon, unfortunately, are stopped short of their final spawning area by insufficient water or irrigation diversions. The Nature Conservancy in Idaho works with landowners and partners to remove those barriers.

While salmon can be difficult to see in large rivers, you can carefully watch them as they move up small streams, such as at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Wildlife Management Area along the Pahsimeroi in May, Idaho. A spectacular place to see the salmon is at Dagger Falls, on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Around July 4th, the salmon can be seen leaping up the falls—a dramatic sight.

Pronghorn are the only large mammals remaining from the Pleistocene—the time period when woolly mammoths, cheetahs and giant sloths roamed North America. Their migration routes are millennia old. One such migration was tracked in a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Lava Lake Land and Livestock.

Each fall, pronghorn migrate from the low-elevation, sagebrush lava beds of Craters of the Moon National Monument, through private ranches in the Southern Pioneer Mountains, over expansive public lands to the north and into Montana. It’s a migration of 160 miles—one of the longest mammal migrations in North America. In the spring, the pronghorn return to Craters of the Moon, and are very visible in the wide-open sagebrush country.

With captivating bright-orange wings and contrasting black patterns it is not hard to imagine why the monarch butterfly was selected as Idaho’s official state insect. Monarchs get nourishment from milkweed plants available during Idaho’s summer months, but they are unable to survive cold winter climates. Their journey marks one of the most unique migrations in North America.

Monarchs are the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration—in some cases traveling thousands of miles to winter habitat in Southern California or central Mexico. To make this astonishing trip, monarchs depend on a relay system of overlapping generations migrating in a single year. During their return to warmer climates each successive generation travels farther north, taking 3-4 generations to reach the northern United States.

Habitat loss, climate change and declining milkweed populations are threatening monarch populations across North America. You can provide monarchs with critical habitat by growing native milkweed in your garden. Ever small action helps.

Each spring, raptors return from Mexico and Central and South America to nest in the rocky canyons of the Snake River. They find the sagebrush plains that surround these canyons to be the perfect place to spend the summer, due to one of the highest densities of ground squirrels in the world. Golden eagles, prairie falcons, ferruginous hawks, burrowing owls and other species build nests in remote canyons, but they can often be seen out hunting in the mornings and afternoons.

Spectacular interactions—golden eagles stealing meals from prairie falcons, red-tailed hawks fighting over territory—can often be observed. A great place to catch the action is the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, located near Kuna. As you watch raptors, keep an eye out for badgers, too, as this area has one of the world’s largest populations of this interesting mammal.