Squirrels in Portland Oregon: Every Species You’ll See

Portland’s tree-lined neighborhoods are home to an unexpected wildlife dynamic—invasive squirrels now outnumber native species in many urban areas.

While you might spot a bushy-tailed visitor raiding your bird feeder daily, knowing which squirrel species you’re actually observing reveals a fascinating story about ecosystem change in the Pacific Northwest.

From the bold eastern gray squirrels dominating city parks to the elusive flying squirrels gliding through Forest Park at night, Portland hosts five distinct squirrel species with dramatically different histories and behaviors.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

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The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has become Portland’s most visible squirrel species, despite being a relatively recent arrival to the Pacific Northwest. Originally from the eastern United States, these adaptable rodents have established thriving populations throughout Portland’s urban core since their introduction in the early 1900s.

Physical Appearance and Identification

You’ll recognize eastern gray squirrels by their predominantly gray fur with white undersides and rusty-brown highlights along their sides and head. They measure 16-20 inches from nose to tail tip, with their luxuriously bushy tails accounting for nearly half that length. Adults typically weigh 14-21 ounces, making them noticeably smaller than fox squirrels but larger than native Douglas squirrels.

Pro Tip: Look for the white eye-ring that gives eastern gray squirrels a wide-eyed expression—this distinctive feature helps distinguish them from other Portland squirrel species at a glance.

Their coloring varies more than their name suggests. While most individuals display the typical gray coat, melanistic (all-black) forms occur occasionally in Portland, particularly in older neighborhoods like Laurelhurst and Eastmoreland. These black squirrels are simply color variants of the same species, not a different type altogether.

The tail deserves special attention—it’s broad, flat, and silver-tipped, creating an elegant silhouette when held curved over the back. During winter months, their ear tufts become more prominent, though never as dramatic as those seen on some European squirrel species.

Behavior and Urban Adaptation

Eastern gray squirrels have proven remarkably adaptable to Portland’s urban environment. They thrive in parks, residential yards, and even downtown areas where mature trees provide food and shelter. You’ll spot them year-round, as they don’t hibernate but remain active throughout Portland’s mild winters.

Their daily routine typically involves:

• Early morning foraging sessions (7-9 AM)
• Midday rest periods in tree cavities or leaf nests (dreys)
• Late afternoon feeding activity (4-6 PM)
• Retreat to nests before sunset

These squirrels are bold around humans, often approaching within feet of people in popular parks like Laurelhurst and Mt. Tabor. This fearlessness results from generations of urban living where humans consistently represent food sources rather than threats.

Common Mistake: Many Portland residents feed eastern gray squirrels thinking they’re helping wildlife, but supplemental feeding actually contributes to population densities that harm native species through competition and disease transmission.

Diet and Food Storage Behavior

Eastern gray squirrels are opportunistic omnivores with preferences that shift seasonally. Their natural diet includes:

• Acorns, walnuts, and hazelnuts (primary food source)
• Tree buds, flowers, and bark
• Fungi and mushrooms
• Bird eggs and nestlings opportunistically
• Human-provided foods in urban settings

They’re famous for their scatter-hoarding behavior—burying individual nuts across their territory rather than creating central food caches. Research shows they successfully relocate 60-80% of buried nuts using spatial memory and smell, with forgotten caches contributing to tree regeneration throughout Portland’s parks.

During fall, you’ll observe frantic caching activity as squirrels prepare for winter scarcity. A single individual may bury several thousand nuts during peak caching season, creating an elaborate mental map of food locations across several acres.

Impact on Portland’s Ecosystem

The eastern gray squirrel’s success in Portland comes at a cost to native species. Their aggressive behavior and efficient foraging put pressure on:

• Native western gray squirrels through direct competition
• Douglas squirrels via territory displacement
• Cavity-nesting birds competing for nest sites
• Oak and walnut regeneration through over-foraging

Wildlife managers consider eastern gray squirrels an invasive species in Oregon, though their populations remain largely unmanaged in urban areas. Their presence represents a permanent change to Portland’s urban wildlife community.

Fox Squirrel

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The Fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) holds the distinction of being North America’s largest tree squirrel and Portland’s most conspicuous squirrel species. Like eastern gray squirrels, fox squirrels are non-native to Oregon, introduced to the Willamette Valley in the mid-1900s for aesthetic and hunting purposes.

Size and Distinctive Features

Fox squirrels are impossible to miss—they’re substantially larger than any other Portland squirrel species. Adults measure 20-26 inches total length and weigh 1-2.5 pounds, with particularly robust individuals approaching small cat dimensions. Their size alone often enables identification from considerable distances.

Their coloring provides the most distinctive identification feature. Fox squirrels typically display rich reddish-brown to rust-orange fur across their backs and heads, with lighter orange or buff-colored undersides. However, color variation is significant—some Portland individuals show darker brown or even grizzled gray tones, while others appear almost bright orange.

Key Insight: The name “fox squirrel” references their fox-like reddish coloring and large bushy tail, not any behavioral similarity to foxes. Their scientific name, Sciurus niger, translates to “black squirrel,” reflecting color variants common in their native southeastern range.

The tail is particularly impressive—extremely bushy with rust-orange and black banding throughout. When backlit by sunlight, the tail creates a distinctive copper halo effect that makes identification straightforward even at distances where body coloring appears ambiguous.

Habitat and Geographic Distribution in Portland

Fox squirrels show distinct habitat preferences within Portland, favoring areas with:

• Large, open parks with scattered mature trees
• Residential neighborhoods with expansive yards
• Golf courses and cemeteries with parkland characteristics
• Urban forests with oak-dominated canopy

You’ll find the highest fox squirrel densities in neighborhoods like Eastmoreland, Reed, and Sellwood, where large lots and mature oak trees provide ideal conditions. They’re less common in the dense West Hills forests where Douglas squirrels dominate, and somewhat scarce in downtown Portland where building density limits suitable habitat.

Unlike eastern gray squirrels that thrive in densely wooded parks, fox squirrels prefer more open settings. They spend considerable time foraging on the ground and seem less reliant on continuous tree canopy for movement between feeding sites.

Foraging Behavior and Diet

Fox squirrels are primarily ground foragers, spending 40-60% of their active time on the ground compared to eastern gray squirrels’ more arboreal habits. This ground-dwelling tendency makes them particularly visible to Portland residents and contributes to their reputation as the neighborhood’s most conspicuous wildlife.

Their diet consists of:

1. Tree nuts: Oak acorns form the dietary foundation, with preference for larger white oak acorns over smaller pin oak varieties
2. Seeds: Pine seeds, maple samaras, and tree seeds supplement nut availability
3. Fruits: Apples, pears, and berry crops attract them to Portland yards
4. Vegetation: Buds, flowers, and tree bark provide spring nutrition
5. Opportunistic protein: Bird eggs, insects, and occasionally small vertebrates

Pro Tip: Fox squirrels have powerful jaws capable of cracking black walnuts—one of the hardest North American tree nuts. If you find walnut shells split cleanly in half rather than gnawed open, a fox squirrel was likely responsible.

They employ both scatter-hoarding (burying individual items) and larder-hoarding (creating centralized caches) depending on food type and season. Larger items like walnuts are typically buried individually, while smaller seeds may be cached in groups within tree cavities or ground burrows.

Social Structure and Communication

Fox squirrels maintain relatively large home ranges—10-40 acres depending on habitat quality and food availability. Unlike the more territorial Douglas squirrels, fox squirrels tolerate significant overlap between individual ranges, particularly around concentrated food sources like productive oak trees.

You’ll observe several communication behaviors:

• Tail flagging: Rapid, jerky tail movements signal alarm or territorial assertion
• Vocalizations: Series of barks, chatters, and buzzing sounds during disputes or predator alerts
• Scent marking: Cheek rubbing on branches and ground caches

Breeding occurs twice annually in Portland—once in late winter (January-February) and again in summer (May-June). Females raise litters of 2-4 young in large stick-and-leaf nests visible in tree crowns during winter months when deciduous trees have dropped their leaves.

Douglas Squirrel

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The Douglas squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) represents one of Portland’s two native squirrel species and the most commonly encountered native squirrel within the city limits. Also called chickarees or pine squirrels, these energetic rodents are fiercely territorial and far more vocal than their larger invasive cousins.

Identification and Physical Characteristics

Douglas squirrels are significantly smaller than the non-native species dominating Portland parks. They measure just 10-14 inches total length and weigh only 5-10 ounces—roughly one-third the size of fox squirrels. This size difference alone often enables quick identification when observing squirrels side-by-side.

Their coloring provides distinctive seasonal variation:

• Summer coat: Olive-brown to gray-brown back with sharp contrast to bright orange-brown belly and eye-ring
• Winter coat: Darker, more uniform gray-brown with less vivid orange tones and conspicuous ear tufts
• Year-round: Black lateral line separating darker back from lighter belly

Important Note: The black lateral line running along each side where back and belly coloring meet serves as the most reliable Douglas squirrel identification feature, visible in both summer and winter pelage.

Their tails are moderately bushy with orange-brown and black banding underneath—noticeably less plume-like than eastern gray or fox squirrel tails. The overall impression is of a compact, athletic squirrel built for rapid movement through dense coniferous forest rather than the heavier, more leisurely appearance of Portland’s invasive species.

Habitat Preferences and Range

Douglas squirrels show strong preferences for coniferous and mixed forests with mature trees providing cone crops. In Portland, you’ll find them primarily in:

• Forest Park’s Douglas-fir and western hemlock stands
• The West Hills neighborhoods with preserved forest fragments
• Powell Butte’s mixed conifer-oak woodland
• Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in conifer zones
• Residential yards bordering forested areas

They’re notably scarce in Portland’s heavily urbanized core where street trees and park plantings consist primarily of deciduous species and ornamentals. Unlike eastern gray and fox squirrels that adapted readily to urban parks dominated by oaks and maples, Douglas squirrels require consistent access to conifer seed crops for survival.

The boundary between Douglas squirrel and invasive squirrel dominance roughly follows Portland’s urban density gradient—Douglas squirrels hold territory in the forested West Hills and outer residential areas, while invasive species control inner neighborhoods and major parks.

Diet and Foraging Strategies

Douglas squirrels are specialist feeders compared to the omnivorous invasive species. Their diet centers on conifer seeds, particularly:

• Douglas-fir cones (primary food source)
• Western hemlock cones
• Pine cones from various species
• Spruce cones in appropriate habitats

Their foraging behavior differs dramatically from scatter-hoarding squirrels. Douglas squirrels create large centralized food caches called “middens”—piles of cone scales and debris accumulated over multiple years at preferred feeding sites. A well-established midden may contain thousands of stored cones and occupy 30-40 square feet, with debris depths exceeding three feet in long-used sites.

Key Insight: Midden sites are fiercely defended territories. A single Douglas squirrel will aggressively exclude all other squirrels—including much larger fox squirrels—from areas surrounding their midden cache.

Supplementary foods include:

• Fungi and mushrooms, particularly during fall
• Tree buds and flowers in spring
• Bird eggs opportunistically
• Sap from tree wounds
• Insects when available

They actively harvest green cones before seeds fully mature, cutting cones from branches and caching them in damp midden sites where cool, moist conditions prevent cone scales from opening and releasing seeds prematurely.

Territorial Behavior and Vocalizations

Douglas squirrels are among North America’s most territorial rodents. Each individual defends a small territory (0.5-2 acres) centered on their midden cache site. Territory boundaries are maintained through:

1. Vocal displays: Loud chattering, chirping, and buzzing calls
2. Chase behavior: Vigorous pursuit of intruders
3. Scent marking: Cheek and body rubbing on branches and midden edges
4. Visual displays: Tail flagging and rapid running displays

Their vocalizations are particularly distinctive—a rapid, ratcheting call often described as sounding like “churr-churr-churr” or a mechanical toy. You’ll hear Douglas squirrels long before seeing them, as they announce their territorial presence and alarm at intruders with persistent calling.

Pro Tip: Listen for the distinctive sound of chewed cone scales and debris raining down from tree canopies—Douglas squirrels often feed in high branches, dropping waste material that accumulates around midden sites below.

Males and females maintain separate territories except during brief breeding periods in spring and summer. Females raise litters of 4-6 young in tree cavity nests, with juveniles dispersing to establish their own territories by late summer.

Western Gray Squirrel

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The Western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) represents Oregon’s rarest and most imperiled tree squirrel species. Once common throughout the Willamette Valley, western gray squirrels have experienced dramatic population declines, making them increasingly difficult to observe even in Portland’s preserved natural areas.

Conservation Status and Rarity

Western gray squirrels face multiple threats that have reduced their populations by an estimated 60-90% across their historical Oregon range since the mid-1900s. In 2011, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife listed them as Sensitive-Critical, and conservation organizations continue advocating for federal Threatened Species Act protection.

Within Portland city limits, western gray squirrels are now extremely rare. Your chances of encountering one remain highest in:

• Powell Butte Nature Park’s oak woodland areas
• Forest Park’s eastern sections with oak components
• Marquam Nature Park where oak-conifer mix occurs
• Private properties in West Hills with mature oak stands
• Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, particularly in quieter zones

Many longtime Portland residents have never observed a western gray squirrel, despite the species’ historical abundance. Their current rarity makes any sighting notable and worth reporting to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to assist conservation monitoring efforts.

Physical Appearance and Distinguishing Features

Western gray squirrels are large, elegant tree squirrels measuring 18-24 inches total length and weighing 12-28 ounces. They rival fox squirrels in size but differ dramatically in appearance:

Key Insight: The sharp contrast between pure steel-gray back and brilliant white belly creates the most reliable western gray squirrel identification feature. Eastern gray squirrels show much less contrast with brownish tones blending gradually between back and belly.

Their tails are particularly distinctive—extremely bushy and full, with silvery-white edges that create a frosted appearance. When backlit, the tail almost glows white rather than showing the silver-gray tones of eastern gray squirrel tails.

Ears are proportionally larger than those of eastern gray squirrels, creating a more alert, wide-eyed facial expression. During winter months, modest ear tufts develop, though nothing approaching the dramatic tufts seen on Eurasian squirrel species.

Habitat Requirements and Ecological Needs

Western gray squirrels are habitat specialists requiring mature oak-pine woodland with specific structural characteristics. Their decline correlates directly with oak woodland loss across the Willamette Valley due to urban development and forest succession as fire suppression allows conifers to outcompete oaks.

Essential habitat elements include:

• Oak trees: Particularly Oregon white oak providing acorn crops
• Large trees: Preference for trees exceeding 20 inches diameter
• Open understory: Maintained historically by fire, now often lost to succession
• Snags: Dead standing trees for cavity nests
• Connectivity: Tree canopy corridors enabling movement between forest patches

Unlike invasive eastern gray squirrels that thrive in small urban parks, western gray squirrels need extensive forest patches—ideally hundreds of acres of contiguous habitat. Portland’s fragmented urban forest rarely provides suitable conditions, contributing to the species’ local rarity.

Diet and Foraging Behavior

Western gray squirrels depend heavily on oak acorns as their dietary foundation. During years of poor acorn production, populations may experience reproductive failure and elevated mortality. Their diet includes:

1. Acorns from multiple oak species (60-80% of annual diet)
2. Pine seeds harvested from ponderosa and other pine cones
3. Fungi including truffles and mushrooms
4. Tree materials including buds, flowers, bark, and sap
5. Supplements such as bird eggs and insects opportunistically

They employ scatter-hoarding behavior similar to eastern gray squirrels, burying individual acorns throughout their territory. However, western gray squirrels are less efficient at cache recovery than their eastern counterparts, potentially reflecting evolutionary differences between species or challenges posed by competing eastern gray squirrels raiding their caches.

Common Mistake: People often assume any large gray squirrel in Portland’s oak woodlands is a western gray squirrel, but eastern gray squirrels now outnumber western grays even in seemingly ideal native habitat due to the eastern species’ competitive advantages.

Foraging occurs primarily in tree canopies and on the ground beneath productive oak trees. Unlike Douglas squirrels that create obvious middens, western gray squirrels leave little evidence beyond scattered oak shell fragments where they’ve fed.

Behavior and Social Structure

Western gray squirrels are notably shy compared to Portland’s habituated eastern gray and fox squirrels. They flee at human approach, remaining high in tree canopies or retreating along trunk routes to cavity refuges. This wariness makes observation challenging and may reflect limited evolutionary exposure to humans compared to eastern species with centuries of urban adaptation.

They maintain large home ranges—20-60 acres depending on habitat quality—with extensive overlap between individuals. Unlike territorial Douglas squirrels, western gray squirrels tolerate conspecifics at productive food sources, though hierarchies exist with larger individuals dominating feeding sites.

Breeding occurs once annually in Portland, typically during February-March. Females raise litters of 3-5 young in tree cavity nests, preferring large diameter oaks or snags. The single annual breeding cycle contrasts with eastern gray squirrels’ two breeding seasons, potentially contributing to western grays’ competitive disadvantage.

Conservation Challenges

Western gray squirrel recovery faces multiple obstacles:

• Habitat loss: Continued oak woodland conversion to development
• Competition: Invasive eastern gray and fox squirrels outcompete for resources
• Disease: Potential disease transmission from invasive species populations
• Fragmentation: Isolated populations lack genetic connectivity
• Climate change: Altering acorn production patterns and phenology

Conservation efforts include oak woodland restoration, invasive squirrel control in recovery sites, and population monitoring. However, the species’ future in Portland remains uncertain without substantial habitat protection and management intervention.

Northern Flying Squirrel

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The Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) represents Portland’s most secretive mammal—a nocturnal species that most residents never observe despite living throughout the city’s forested areas. These remarkable gliding squirrels lead hidden lives in Portland’s tree canopies, active only after dark.

Unique Adaptations for Gliding

Northern flying squirrels don’t actually fly but glide using specialized anatomical adaptations. A fur-covered membrane called the patagium stretches between front and rear legs along each side, functioning like a parachute when extended. Additional features supporting their gliding lifestyle include:

• Flattened tail: Acts as rudder and brake during glides
• Large eyes: Enhanced night vision for nocturnal activity
• Cartilage spurs: Extend from wrists to help spread gliding membrane
• Dense fur: Provides insulation and streamlining during glides

When launching from a high perch, flying squirrels spread their limbs to extend the patagium, creating a gliding surface that generates lift. They can alter glide direction mid-flight by adjusting limb positions and using their tail as a rudder, enabling precise landings on target trees.

Pro Tip: Flying squirrels typically lose 2-3 feet of elevation for every 10 feet of forward glide distance—a glide ratio allowing them to travel over 150 feet horizontally from a launch point 30 feet high.

Just before impact, they raise their tail and shift their body into a vertical position, using the patagium as an air brake to slow descent and ensure safe landing. Upon landing, they immediately scurry to the far side of the tree trunk to avoid aerial predators that might have tracked their glide.

Physical Characteristics and Size

Northern flying squirrels are medium-sized among Portland’s squirrel species, measuring 10-12 inches total length including their flat, heavily-furred tail. Adults weigh just 3-6 ounces—significantly lighter than similarly-sized Douglas squirrels due to their adaptation for efficient gliding.

Their fur is remarkably soft and dense, providing both insulation during cold Portland winters and streamlining during glides. Coloring is subtle:

• Back: Cinnamon-brown to gray-brown depending on individual variation
• Belly: White to cream, with gray bases to belly hairs creating subtle darker appearance
• Patagium: Bordered with distinctive black stripe along edge
• Eyes: Very large and dark, enabling excellent night vision

The patagium is most obvious when squirrels are gliding but remains visible when at rest as loose folds of fur-covered skin along their sides. This feature provides the most reliable identification characteristic distinguishing flying squirrels from similarly-colored Douglas squirrels or juveniles of other species.

Habitat and Range in Portland

Northern flying squirrels inhabit mature coniferous and mixed forests throughout Portland’s greenbelt areas. Their presence requires:

• Mature forests: Trees providing cavities for nesting and den sites
• Snags: Dead standing trees essential for cavity availability
• Vertical structure: Multi-layered canopy enabling glide pathways
• Fungi: Ectomycorrhizal fungi forming dietary foundation

In Portland, you’ll find flying squirrels primarily in:

• Forest Park’s extensive conifer stands
• West Hills forested neighborhoods
• Powell Butte’s mature woodland sections
• Marquam Nature Park and connecting forest corridors
• Large residential properties with preserved forest fragments

They’re largely absent from Portland’s urban core where mature forest habitat doesn’t exist. However, they may occur much closer to downtown than most residents realize, living undetected in Forest Park sections bordering Northwest neighborhoods.

Nocturnal Lifestyle and Activity Patterns

Flying squirrels are strictly nocturnal, emerging from nest cavities only after sunset and retreating before sunrise. This nocturnal lifestyle explains why they remain virtually unknown despite reasonably healthy populations throughout Portland’s forested areas.

Their nightly activity follows predictable patterns:

1. Emergence shortly after sunset (timing varies seasonally)
2. Early evening foraging concentrated near den tree
3. Mid-night rest period in temporary cavities or den
4. Pre-dawn foraging with increased travel distance
5. Return to primary den before sunrise

Important Note: Flying squirrels remain active throughout Portland’s winters, unlike ground squirrels in drier regions. During severe cold snaps, multiple individuals may den together for warmth—aggregations of up to 8-10 squirrels have been documented sharing winter den sites.

You might detect flying squirrel presence through:

• Soft chirping calls during nighttime hours in forests
• Scratching sounds in tree cavities of older trees
• Small food debris beneath feeding sites
• Trails through snow during winter months (rare in Portland)

Diet and Ecological Role

Northern flying squirrels are specialist feeders with diet heavily dependent on fungi. They consume ectomycorrhizal fungi (truffles and mushrooms) that form symbiotic relationships with conifer roots, making flying squirrels critical ecological players in forest health.

Their diet composition includes:

• Fungi: 60-80% of annual diet, particularly hypogeous (underground) truffles
• Lichens: Substantial winter food source when fungi scarce
• Seeds: Conifer seeds and tree seeds supplement fungal diet
• Tree materials: Buds, flowers, and cambium during spring
• Insects: Occasional protein supplementation during summer

By consuming truffles and dispersing fungal spores through their droppings, flying squirrels facilitate mycorrhizal relationships between fungi and trees. This mutualism helps conifer forests maintain health and productivity, making flying squirrels keystone species in Pacific Northwest forest ecosystems despite their small size and secretive nature.

Reproduction and Social Behavior

Flying squirrels breed once annually in Portland, with mating occurring during March-April. Females give birth to litters of 2-4 young after approximately 40-day gestation periods. Young remain in nest cavities for 6-7 weeks before making their first tentative glides, with mother squirrels teaching juveniles gliding techniques through demonstration.

Key Insight: Baby flying squirrels practice gliding by making short, awkward jumps between close branches before attempting true glides—a learning process taking 2-3 weeks before they achieve adult proficiency.

Social structure differs from Portland’s other squirrel species. Flying squirrels are relatively social, with overlapping home ranges and tolerant interactions at food sources. Winter denning aggregations of multiple individuals provide mutual warmth benefits during cold periods, a behavior not observed in territorial Douglas squirrels or largely solitary tree squirrels.

Males and females maintain separate home ranges outside breeding season but show flexible territoriality with considerable overlap accepted. Home ranges are relatively small—2-10 acres—compared to large tree squirrels, reflecting the three-dimensional nature of their gliding mobility through forest canopies.

Viewing Opportunities and Conservation

Observing northern flying squirrels requires patience and proper timing. Your best chances include:

1. Evening observations: Position yourself near known cavity trees shortly after sunset
2. Quiet listening: Listen for soft chirping calls and scratching sounds
3. Red light use: Use red-filtered flashlights that don’t disturb nocturnal animals as severely as white light
4. Winter observations: Snow backgrounds make squirrels more visible during glides

Conservation concerns remain moderate for Portland’s flying squirrels. While habitat loss through urban development poses threats, Forest Park and other protected greenspaces provide substantial suitable habitat. The primary long-term concerns involve forest management practices that reduce cavity tree availability and climate change impacts on fungal communities critical to their survival.

Understanding squirrels in Portland Oregon means recognizing you’re observing an ecosystem in transition. Invasive eastern gray and fox squirrels now dominate neighborhoods and parks, while native Douglas squirrels hold territory in remaining forest patches.

Western gray squirrels teeter on the edge of local extinction, and northern flying squirrels glide unnoticed through the night canopy. Each species tells part of Portland’s ecological story—from successful invasions to conservation challenges.

Next time you spot a squirrel in your yard or local park, take a moment to identify which species you’re actually seeing. That knowledge connects you to the larger patterns shaping urban wildlife across the Pacific Northwest.