Wildfire hasn’t stopped this tiny rabbit relative from returning home in Columbia River Gorge

Meep! The pika population in the Columbia Gorge is making a strong comeback six years after the Eagle Creek Fire burned much of their habitat in Oregon in 2017.

A survey conducted this year by volunteers with the group Cascades Pika Watch found pikas at 61 of 76 sites they surveyed.

Pikas are pocket-sized rabbit relatives known for their distinctive squeaky calls.

They’re usually found in alpine country, above 6,000 feet. But a unique population of pikas has made its home at a much lower elevation, in the cool and humid rockslides of the Columbia River Gorge.

Johanna Varner, an associate professor at Colorado Mesa University, said pikas in the gorge don’t appear to have a special adaptation to heat. Instead, they have taken advantage of a microclimate that occurs just below the surface of the rockslides. Even when nearby trails heat up, the ground under the rockslides remains around refrigerator temperature.

“I had temperature sensors in the talus literally during the fire,” Varner said. “The ones at the surface melted and exploded. The ones that were about a meter below the surface during the fire never got above 9 degrees Celsius.”