WILDLIFE RESEARCH -- The Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness are asking people to vote online before Oct. 28 to help them garner nearly $30,000 in grants from Zoo Boise that would be applied to wolverine research in North Idaho.

Visit the Zoo Boise projects website for details. Review the the wolverine proposal and the seven other finalists and then vote for your two favorites in each category. The four projects with the most votes will each receive a grants. One vote per person is allowed.

The Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness has partnered with Idaho Fish and Game and the Idaho Conservation League on a proposal for an Idaho Panhandle Wolverine Study.

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) were recently classified as ‘warranted but precluded’ for listing as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Only about 35 breeding wolverine females are roaming the lower 48 states.

Read on for more details about the North Idaho project.

Last winter Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness partnered with Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) to study wolverines in the West Cabinet Mountains. This winter Idaho Conservation League will join us as we expand our study across the Idaho Panhandle. We will put out ‘bait stations’ in late fall to find out where wolverines ‘hang out’ and take photos of them. Then, biologists from IDFG will attach satellite tracking collars to females to locate their dens. The data we collect will inform Forest Service policy decisions which influence wolverine survival.

A $29,700 grant from Zoo Boise will allow us to purchase cameras and hire a volunteer coordinator to pursue the full implimentation of this project.  But we need your help.