WILDLIFE RESEARCH — More than 40 volunteers showed up for a training course on Dec. 3 to learn how to use their expertise in backcountry snowshoeing or ski touring to help researchers study wolverines.

It's already paid off.  Read on for the big news from last week.

Idaho Fish and Game wildlife biologists taught them how to rig up bait and install wire gun-cleaning brushes in the bait tree to snag hair for DNA testing as the critters climb up for the free meal. They also learned about trail cams and traveling safely through avalanche terrain.

Now they're out doing it in the wilds of the Cabinet mountains northeast of Lake Pend Oreille, as you see by the photos. The going's tough, but that's why many of them signed up. There's nothing better that having a purpose for going into the winter backcountry.

The Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness is providing the backbone of the financial support and the base of volunteers that came to the classes before heading into the field. 

Oh, yeah. The big news:

After checking their first round of rare forest carnivore monitoring stations last week, Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists discovered a wolverine had been caught on camera in the Selkirk Mountains of North Idaho.  The biologists have confirmed the wolverine visited the station twice.  The story is to be continued… but click “continue reading” below to see one more photo of what volunteers are going through to support this research.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION — Local sportsmens groups are sponsoring two programs of interest this week in Spokane.

Unfortunately for the universal sportsman, both programs are set for Tuesday starting at 7 p.m..

• Steelhead fisheries in Washington, and update on Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River Dam removal, by Rob Masoni, Trout Unlimited Western vice president, Tuesday at Northern Lights Brewery, 1003 E. Trent Ave. Sponsored by TU Spokane Falls Chapter.
• Whitetail deer research project in northeastern Washington, by Woody Myers, Fish and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist, Tuesday at Inland Northwest Wildlife Council auditorium, 6116 N. Market St. Sponsored by Inland NW Wildlife Council.

WILDLIFE RESEARCH — Volunteers helped Washington Fish and Wildlife Department researchers round up and band 894 Canada geese in Eastern Washington during the past two weeks.  More than 80 of the geese were captured in the Spokane and Liberty Lake area, includind 30 at Gonzaga University.

The roundup was timed for the molt, when the adults couldn't fly, making it easy to herd them and their broods into enclosures.

Read on for the tally of birds captured at 14 sites during this ongoing study headed by waterfowl expert Mikal Moore. 

WILDLIFE - Two researches will present what they learned from studies on fishers and wolverines in the Cabinet and Selkirk mountains in a free program Thursday, 6 p.m., at the East Bonner County Library in Sandpoint.

Idaho Fish and Game Department biologists Lacy Robinson and Michael Lucid, along with area volunteers on snowshoes and snowmobiles have been setting bait stations and cameras in remote areas to survey for the elusive members of the weasel family.

The photographs tell much of the story.

The researchers got help from snowmobilers where the machines are allowed, but when they ventured into more remote areas, they were helped by snowshoers from the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness to help install, monitor and remove bait sets designed to catch wolverines - on film.

“We didn't photograph any wolverines,” says FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton, ” at least not in the Cabinets, but we did catch a lot of their cousins.” In both ranges, cameras caught portraits of fishers, pine martens and weasels, as well as the occasional surprise visitor. In the Selkirks, they also caught a wolverine.

In 12 study stations, remote cameras were trained on trees baited with beaver carcasses and household sponges soaked with smelly concoctions designed to attract mustelids and be hard enough to get to that the critters would have to leave a little something behind to get a bite of the beaver.

Gun brushes and double-sided sticky tape placed below the beaver gathered hair samples from each animal that went for the bait. This was collected and is being analyzed for DNA, which will give Robinson and Lucid an idea of how many individual animals visited the bait stations.