Lolo National Forest
The Lolo National Forest is a National Forest in the northwestern United States. It is located in the west of the U.S. state of Montana; its western boundary is formed by the states border with Idaho. The Lolo National Forest covers an area of 8,000 km ². The Forestry Commission is located in Missoula.
At the National Forest to the north includes " Flathead Indian Reservation " on. However, the somewhat disjointed area of Lolo National Forest surrounds the city of Missoula, it does not include completely. Also some neighboring national forests are adjacent to the Lolo National Forest, for example, the Flathead National Forest, the Clearwater National Forest and the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.
In Lolo National Forest four " wilderness areas" include the following: The Scapegoat Wilderness and the Bob Marshall Wilderness are only partially in National Forest area; the Welcome Creek Wilderness and the Mission Mountains Wilderness are located entirely within the area of the National Forest. The Lolo National Forest was established in 1906; he created by the merger of four previously existing forests, which were later combined for administrative purposes.
The Lolo National Forest is located west of the Continental Divide; he is influenced by both continental and full of maritime climate. In the National Forest there are over 100 named lakes, nearly 1,000 named streams and five rivers; one of which is the Flathead River.
Within the National Forest alone 17 different conifer species and five deciduous tree species occur; are a total of 1,500 different plant species in the park, two of them 250 invasive species. Some copies of the Riesenthuja (Thuja plicata) in the Lolo National Forest reach stature heights of 60 meters in tree diameters of 2.5 meters, making them the tallest trees of all Montana.
In the animal world of the National Forest 60 species of mammals, 20 species of fish and 300 species of birds are known. Among the large mammals include the brown bear (Ursus arctos), the American black bear (Ursus americanus), the Mountain Goat ( Oreamnos americanus), bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ), elk, moose (Alces alces) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus ). In birds, the bald eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) and the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos ), the Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) and Canada Heron ( Ardea herodias) to be found.
In Lolo National Forest 1100 km trails are created; there are a dozen campgrounds.