The Mount Graham squirrel lives only on one Arizona mountain. After a devastating fire, it’s rebounded to 232 animals—but climate change and habitat loss threaten its survival. A revised federal rescue plan offers hope, but time is running out.
The Mount Graham squirrel lives only in the Pinaleño Mountains of southeastern Arizona. It needs very specific forest—old trees, deadwood, open gaps, and a mix of ages. A forest can look healthy to us but be useless to it.
The 2017 Frye Fire nearly wiped it out. The population has rebounded to about 232 squirrels, but one more big fire could undo that. Climate change and insects are making things worse, and since the squirrel lives near the mountaintop, it has nowhere higher to go.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened public comment on a revised rescue plan. But a plan alone won't save the squirrel. Success will depend on keeping enough healthy forest alive to survive the next fire season.
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