Southwest Sierra — #33

Porcupines

Erethizon dorsatum, charcoal drawing by Rae BellIn SS #24 I requested input from readers regarding porcupines. I received an amazing letter from Susan Heron of Sierraville (excerpt below reprinted with permission).

“I must tell you about my last porcupine sighting. I am turning 70 this year and as a young child I lived in logging camps in Plumas County. We had a Model A we traveled the dirt roads to camps in. My father had taught my brother and I to sing a “porcupine song” with him while riding in our Model A. One of the lines from that song was “Oh who ate the top out of that tree?” (My dad’s part) and we would then chime in “Oh the porcupine did!” At that time there was a bounty on those porcupines and loggers sure didn’t like them.

In the 1960s we still would spot porcupines in the woods occasionally. I remember my father shot a huge one in our old house’s woodshed and my mother had a real upset over the mess. Our dogs never learned not to mess with those porcupines. Over and over my dad would have to pull quills from the dog’s snouts. I remember him knocking our big black lab right between the eyes with a two by four to put him out [to pull the quills].

I graduated high school in 1971 and was off to college, never seeing another porcupine ‘till years later and only once. My siblings and I have talked about the disappearance of the porcupines. So many according to my father were killed when there was a bounty for them.

Wasn’t till around 2005 and my youngest son and I were sitting on the shore of Coburn Lake and he asked me about porcupines as he had never seen one. This is the wee-hoo part I’ll always remember. As I looked eastward there in the very top of an evergreen (fir I believe) was a porcupine munching away! Can you believe that? I pointed it out to my son and then took a picture. Sun was almost gone but you could see it up there in the picture. My son had just asked about porcupines and there was one in a tree on the ridge of Coburn Lake. Unbelievable! That was the first time in 30 years or more that I’d seen one and the last time I’ve ever seen one.” ~ Sincerely Susan

Another person who worked for the Forest Service in the 1960s said that when the Forest Service planted trees in those days, wooden blocks soaked in strychnine were placed in the plantations to kill the porcupines. This was done because they would chew the tops off the saplings, stunting their growth and ruining them for future timber harvests.

According to Sierra Nevada Natural History published by the University of California Press, Porcupines are the largest terrestrial rodents and they bear only one baby (porcupette) per litter. They are born with soft hair that hardens into quills within a few days.

Based on more online research, there are still a lot of porcupines in other States such as Michigan, Wyoming and Montana. They are not considered game animals and can be killed like any rodent. The Montana Dept. of Fish & Wildlife has a webpage devoted to porcupines. fwp.mt.gov/conservation/living-with-wildlife/porcupines From the website:

“Porcupines have a strong attraction to salt from sweat left on tool handles, canoe paddles, gloves, pack straps, horse harness, etc. The resins in plywood also have a great appeal for porcupines and they have been known to destroy siding on cabins, sheds, containers, and signs. Car tires and even hoses have been attractive to porcupines supposedly for the mineral content.”

I wonder if any studies have been done on the impact of a healthy porcupine population on the forest? From what I have gleaned it seems that Porcupines could have a major impact on both tree density and growth, not to mention the life expectancy of tires and hoses!

About the author: As a kid in 1975, Rae Bell (aka Pauline) moved with her family to the Ruby Mine area located between Alleghany and Downieville. She and her husband have lived in Alleghany proper since 1992. If you have news or suggestions to share, please send an email to: raebell44@gmail.com,

or mail to: PO Box 919, Alleghany, CA 95910