Watch for mule deer on the dry open rocky slopes, white-tailed deer in the Douglas Fir thickets, and the occasional Rocky Mountain Elk bedding on the ridgetops.  Black bears, coyotes, and an occasional moose are seen in the area.  How many can you name?

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The CCF also supports an abundance and diversity of birds.  In spring, water fowl migrate en masse along the lakes.  Many dabbling duck like mallard, whidgon, green-winged teal are especially common.  Small numbers of the spectacularly coloured cinnamon teal and wood ducks can also be found. Diving ducks frequent the larger lakes and include the red head, canvas back, ring-necked ducks along with buffle head and both species of goldeneye.  Shore birds such as killdeer and spotted sandpipers are often seen scurrying around the shores of the various lakes searching for invertebrates.  Raptor, such as the red tailed hawk can be seen soaring above the rocky ridges.

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As spring moves into summer, many of the song birds have returned.  The surreal call of the Swainson's thrush can be heard in the morning as the male sings from the tallest trees.  A number of the warblers can be seen foraging through the branches of Douglas Fir and Aspen, some common species include the yellow-rumped and Townsend's warblers.  Both the red breasted and white breasted nuthatches can be noticed working their way down the trunk of a ponderosa pine.

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Fall brings another migration of ducks and shore birds through the wetlands.  Most male ducks are in their drab plumage and in some species, one has difficulty telling males from females.  A few birds that leave late include boisterous marsh wrens found in the bull rushes and cattails of the small ponds and lakes. Many song birds migrate at night to avoid pretators.

Clark's nutcracker forage for seed among the ponderosa pine cones still attached to the tree and the odd stellars jay adds it rauchous call to the autumn air.

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During winter, small flocks of chicadees, nut hatches, and kinglets travel together in search of food among the tree branches.

Many woodpeckers can be heard pecking into trees dead or dying from beetle attack.  Each has a distinctive pecking sound, from the axe-like clunk of the pileated woodpecker to the more repetitious and methodical chipping sound of the hairy woodpecker.