Cougar Mountain

Cougar Mountain Roadless Area is located just north of the Colville Indian Reservation in the rugged Kettle Mountain Range. Highlighted by rare old-growth forests of Douglas fir and ponderosa pine, Cougar Mountain supports a wide-ranging mix of shrubs, forbs and flowers, grasses, and trees that provide key habitats for wildlife. Those who delight in dizzying heights can peer down into a vast gorge hundreds of feet below the mountain, a natural wonder of this isolated place.

The conifer forest shrub-steppe of Cougar Mountain is currently underrepresented in Washington and makes it a great candidate for wilderness status. Also, as in many other roadless areas in the Colville National Forest, Cougar Mountain’s inhabitants—such as the golden eagles that nest here—are at great risk from road building.