Tracking Wolverines

 A beautiful sunset on Mt. Helena last Friday

Me and Lauren spent this past weekend snowshoeing in the woods near Lincoln Montana, looking for wolverine tracks with a group called Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. This group has found an interesting niche. Their idea is to find adventurers who regularly spend large amounts of time in the wilderness and match them with scientists who need data from a particular area. The nonprofit has been running for about a year and has done some amazing things.
   This was the second weekend which I had spent with the group. The first was spent tracking Grizzly Bear populations in southwestern Montana in October. Both trips have been great success. Walking around with the founder of the non-profit is always like getting a free ecology lesson.

                                            This weekend we found wolverine tracks!

          For about a year I have been infatuated with the species Gullo gullo. To actually find some prints and know that they actually travel through my backyard is amazing. The goal of this project is to find where the wolverines regularly travel, the information would then be passed on to the managers of the different areas and should affect the way which lands are managed, with wolverines in mind.
       This summer while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, I will be gathering data on Pika for Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. Although me and Pikas have not always gotten along, I think our brief encounters this summer will be easy enough for both of us to deal with. When I was 17, doing trail work in the Sangre De Cristo mountains of Colorado, I had a pika steal a glove of mine. It made a lasting impression, every time I hear one of those loud squeeks, I cringe.
    Adventurers and Scientists for Conservations website is http://www.adventureandscience.org . If you look hard enough on the website, you can find Lauren starring in a film about the Grizzly Tracking Project! I encourage anyone who has an interest in science and recreation to visit the website, they may have a project that gets you excited.
  5 more weeks of work... Counting the days!