Video here.
This has got to be the cryptozoological video of the year so far. An amazing video, it was reportedly shot in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug last summer by an engineer who was scouting an area in order to build a road. He says he saw a hairy elephant struggling to cross a raging river, got out his camera, and shot a video of it.
There have been many attempts to debunk this video so far, but I do not think they have been successful. First of all, they are saying that it's a grizzly bear with a large fish in its mouth. For many reasons, it's just not. The shape and the way its walking are all wrong for a bear. Further, a bear would not wade out into the middle of a raging river like this to catch a fish and then struggle to take it to the other side. It would stand on the bank, reach out and grab and fish and then take it quickly to the bank and eat it.
Other people are saying it is a CGI of a woolly mammoth or an elephant. For a lot of reasons, I think it is not. It's too poorly done for one thing. A CGI would look a lot clearer than this.
Bottom line is this an elephant all right! But does that solve the mystery? Unfortunately, it does not. For it could well be an Asian elephant crossing a river in the lower Himalayas around India, Nepal and Sikkim. There are many Indian elephants in the eastern India region, and they range all the way up to 9,000 feet in the lower Himalayas. In that part of the Himalayas, you could well see forests and raging rivers just like this.
One thing that I found very interesting was that the video was said to be shot in Chukotka. How would a hoaxer know to say just that? Because that location is very important. It was on Wrangell Island in Chukotka Okrug that the woolly mammoth had its last stand 3,400 years ago. So if they still exist at all, they would me likely be in the Chukotka Okrug than any place else. Do hoaxers know this obscure fact?
One more shocking thing in the report said that hairs had been found of the mammoth in the video somehow, and that the hairs matched up with hairs from extant specimens of extinct mammoths. We really need to follow up on this enticing bit to see if it is true or not. If it's true, and it some stunning proof that woolly mammoths, creatures from the Stone Age, continue to walk among us.
I know it sounds incredible, but regular reports have been drifting in about hairy elephants deep in the wilds of Siberia for over 70 years now, and there were even reports before that. So we have multiple generations of sightings. Now, sightings don't necessarily mean anything, but I don't think we should be so fast to reject them out of hand. After all, in only 2.5 weeks if we are lucky, the existence of the Bigfoots and the Yeti will both be proven to science, two creatures with a regular sighting record dating back centuries to millenia.
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Adventures in Owling
Updated August 23:
For the last few weeks here in Coarsegold, California (elevation 2000' in the Sierra Nevada Mountains), I have been hearing strange "Screech! Screech!" noises at night, often very late at night. I'm hearing them right now, as a matter of fact. I'm an experienced bird watcher, and I assumed they were birds, so I grabbed a strong flashlight (you need a strong flashlight to look at any night birds) and went outside.
Most birds are simply not active at nighttime. Day-active birds will usually just go up into a tree and sleep there at night. I had a rare bird on my property in 1990 in Southern California and I had bird-watchers coming every day to come see it.
It was a Brown Thrasher, common in the Eastern US but very rare in the West. The bird stayed on my property for about three days. At nighttime, I went out looking for it and found it in a bunch of trees on the side of the house. We think that they just go up into a tree and probably sleep up there. I guess they need to sleep too, like everything else.
The only birds active at nighttime are generally owls. There are also some birds like nightjars and whippoorwills that become active at dusk. I'm not sure if they stay active at night or not. So if you hear a bird at night, it's an owl.
Well, I went outside and the strange screeches kept coming from a huge tree nearby. I shone my light up there and there were some good-sized owls up there. I couldn't figure out what kind they were because it was night and they weren't fitting into any known categories. One flew away and I noticed how huge it was in flight. I went back in and did some research on the Net.
At first I was thinking "Screech owl" because we do have Western Screech Owls here. But they are quite small and have a distinctive call. They make this call on hot summer nights, often very late at night, but it's not a screech, in spite of the name. It's more of a "bouncing ball" call. It's hard to describe unless you have heard it.
On the Net I learned that baby Great Horned Owls do make a "Screech!" call. That fit in with my perceptions about the birds' size. A horned owl is a very large bird. They are so large that they are known to prey on house cats. They are also very common in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
So these were baby Great Horned Owls. I guess they fledge here in July and August. What was interesting was there were around 5-10 of them in a small area, all calling to each other. The size also ruled out Screech Owls, because they are quite small.
You need to understand that "baby birds", once fledged, are about the size of adult birds and are often indistinguishable from them. Some smaller birds have juvenile plumage, but among larger birds, it's not common.
In Orange County in the late 1980's, I saw two crows of about the same size, one feeding the other one with its beak. This is how birds feed each other. I did some research and learned that that is a baby crow. Baby crows are about the same size as adults. Adults will feed them for a while after they fledge and leave the nest, but then they need to take off.
I also had some acorn woodpeckers living in a huge oak tree on my property in the mountains. They live in communal units of multiple adults and even raise the young communally. They may raise more than one clutch in a good year. I noticed that after the young were fledged, they stuck around for a while, and the adults continued to feed them. Then I guess they took off.
This myth, so beloved by American parents with adult kids still at home long past the time to leave, about adult birds "throwing the young out of the nest" as soon as they fledge, is just not true.
First of all, baby birds can't fly very well as soon as they fledge. Sometimes if you are lucky in Spring you can see baby birds scuttling along the ground trying to fly. I've seen this in House Sparrows in Fresno, California. I think they scuttle along the ground and half-fly for a few days or so, then they get it. They fly for a short distance, then they land. They must be extremely vulnerable to predation in this stage.
Keeping baby birds around after they fledge is a positive adaptation in evolutionary terms. Larger birds such as woodpeckers and surely crows are thought to be more evolved, so they seem to keep the young at home for a while after fledging. Tossing the babies out of the nest is evolutionarily stupid, since if they can't fly well, they will be very vulnerable to predation.
Trust me, they are vulnerable enough in the nesting phase! I had an Ash-Throated Flycatcher nesting on my Oakhurst property one year. My cats figured out the story after a while, and kept trying to climb up to the nest. I'm sure predators like raccoons are even worse. I even understand that snakes can climb trees and raid nests.
I've never seen so many owls as I've seen up here in the mountains.
Twice I saw Northern Saw-Whet Owls on the road in Oakhurst, once at dusk and once at 9:30 PM on a sleety night in winter - this one had a mouse in its talons! Saw-Whet Owls descend to the Oakhurst area in winter.
Another time, also in Oakhurst at dusk, I saw small birds "mobbing" something just before dusk. When you see that, it's generally a predatory bird like a hawk or an owl. It was dusk. I ran inside, got my binoculars, and went back. After a while, I saw that they were mobbing a Northern Pygmy-Owl .
It's a pretty cool little bird, with fake eyes in the back of it's head! Nice evolutionary trick to fool you into thinking it's looking at you when it's not. I think that this trick evolved to help this small owl avoid predators, because there I'm not sure there is an advantage for a predator to seem like it has eyes in the back of its head.
A couple of years ago, in Oakhurst near some apartments at dusk, I saw a huge bird swoop down on some bare ground in front of some apartments, grab something and take off back up to a Ponderosa Pine tree, where it was promptly mobbed by a bunch of small birds. I stopped and looked long enough to see that it was a Great Horned Owl with a mouse (probably a deer mouse) in its talons.
Mobbing is an interesting tactic. Small birds with fly in large numbers at a hawk or an owl. Often these hawks or owls are the same ones that kill and eat these same small birds. Accipter hawks such as Goshawks are mobbed, but I have never seen a Buteo such as a Red-tailed Hawk mobbed.
Buteos typically subsist solely on small mammals and reptiles and seldom if ever eat other birds. But accipters are bird hawks. They prey on other birds. I once saw a Goshawk being mobbed by small birds, fly out of some underbrush, and over to a post where it sat for a bit while the others continued to mob it.
The idea of mobbing is strength in numbers. Although they attack predators known to prey on them, if you have enough small birds, it will confuse and upset the predator enough to so it won't attack them. It's also an early warning system for any other small birds in the area that a predator is in the area. In addition, by mobbing, the small birds try to drive the predator away from them and off to somewhere else.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
For the last few weeks here in Coarsegold, California (elevation 2000' in the Sierra Nevada Mountains), I have been hearing strange "Screech! Screech!" noises at night, often very late at night. I'm hearing them right now, as a matter of fact. I'm an experienced bird watcher, and I assumed they were birds, so I grabbed a strong flashlight (you need a strong flashlight to look at any night birds) and went outside.
Most birds are simply not active at nighttime. Day-active birds will usually just go up into a tree and sleep there at night. I had a rare bird on my property in 1990 in Southern California and I had bird-watchers coming every day to come see it.
It was a Brown Thrasher, common in the Eastern US but very rare in the West. The bird stayed on my property for about three days. At nighttime, I went out looking for it and found it in a bunch of trees on the side of the house. We think that they just go up into a tree and probably sleep up there. I guess they need to sleep too, like everything else.
The only birds active at nighttime are generally owls. There are also some birds like nightjars and whippoorwills that become active at dusk. I'm not sure if they stay active at night or not. So if you hear a bird at night, it's an owl.
Well, I went outside and the strange screeches kept coming from a huge tree nearby. I shone my light up there and there were some good-sized owls up there. I couldn't figure out what kind they were because it was night and they weren't fitting into any known categories. One flew away and I noticed how huge it was in flight. I went back in and did some research on the Net.
At first I was thinking "Screech owl" because we do have Western Screech Owls here. But they are quite small and have a distinctive call. They make this call on hot summer nights, often very late at night, but it's not a screech, in spite of the name. It's more of a "bouncing ball" call. It's hard to describe unless you have heard it.
On the Net I learned that baby Great Horned Owls do make a "Screech!" call. That fit in with my perceptions about the birds' size. A horned owl is a very large bird. They are so large that they are known to prey on house cats. They are also very common in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
So these were baby Great Horned Owls. I guess they fledge here in July and August. What was interesting was there were around 5-10 of them in a small area, all calling to each other. The size also ruled out Screech Owls, because they are quite small.
You need to understand that "baby birds", once fledged, are about the size of adult birds and are often indistinguishable from them. Some smaller birds have juvenile plumage, but among larger birds, it's not common.
In Orange County in the late 1980's, I saw two crows of about the same size, one feeding the other one with its beak. This is how birds feed each other. I did some research and learned that that is a baby crow. Baby crows are about the same size as adults. Adults will feed them for a while after they fledge and leave the nest, but then they need to take off.
I also had some acorn woodpeckers living in a huge oak tree on my property in the mountains. They live in communal units of multiple adults and even raise the young communally. They may raise more than one clutch in a good year. I noticed that after the young were fledged, they stuck around for a while, and the adults continued to feed them. Then I guess they took off.
This myth, so beloved by American parents with adult kids still at home long past the time to leave, about adult birds "throwing the young out of the nest" as soon as they fledge, is just not true.
First of all, baby birds can't fly very well as soon as they fledge. Sometimes if you are lucky in Spring you can see baby birds scuttling along the ground trying to fly. I've seen this in House Sparrows in Fresno, California. I think they scuttle along the ground and half-fly for a few days or so, then they get it. They fly for a short distance, then they land. They must be extremely vulnerable to predation in this stage.
Keeping baby birds around after they fledge is a positive adaptation in evolutionary terms. Larger birds such as woodpeckers and surely crows are thought to be more evolved, so they seem to keep the young at home for a while after fledging. Tossing the babies out of the nest is evolutionarily stupid, since if they can't fly well, they will be very vulnerable to predation.
Trust me, they are vulnerable enough in the nesting phase! I had an Ash-Throated Flycatcher nesting on my Oakhurst property one year. My cats figured out the story after a while, and kept trying to climb up to the nest. I'm sure predators like raccoons are even worse. I even understand that snakes can climb trees and raid nests.
I've never seen so many owls as I've seen up here in the mountains.
Twice I saw Northern Saw-Whet Owls on the road in Oakhurst, once at dusk and once at 9:30 PM on a sleety night in winter - this one had a mouse in its talons! Saw-Whet Owls descend to the Oakhurst area in winter.
Another time, also in Oakhurst at dusk, I saw small birds "mobbing" something just before dusk. When you see that, it's generally a predatory bird like a hawk or an owl. It was dusk. I ran inside, got my binoculars, and went back. After a while, I saw that they were mobbing a Northern Pygmy-Owl .
It's a pretty cool little bird, with fake eyes in the back of it's head! Nice evolutionary trick to fool you into thinking it's looking at you when it's not. I think that this trick evolved to help this small owl avoid predators, because there I'm not sure there is an advantage for a predator to seem like it has eyes in the back of its head.
A couple of years ago, in Oakhurst near some apartments at dusk, I saw a huge bird swoop down on some bare ground in front of some apartments, grab something and take off back up to a Ponderosa Pine tree, where it was promptly mobbed by a bunch of small birds. I stopped and looked long enough to see that it was a Great Horned Owl with a mouse (probably a deer mouse) in its talons.
Mobbing is an interesting tactic. Small birds with fly in large numbers at a hawk or an owl. Often these hawks or owls are the same ones that kill and eat these same small birds. Accipter hawks such as Goshawks are mobbed, but I have never seen a Buteo such as a Red-tailed Hawk mobbed.
Buteos typically subsist solely on small mammals and reptiles and seldom if ever eat other birds. But accipters are bird hawks. They prey on other birds. I once saw a Goshawk being mobbed by small birds, fly out of some underbrush, and over to a post where it sat for a bit while the others continued to mob it.
The idea of mobbing is strength in numbers. Although they attack predators known to prey on them, if you have enough small birds, it will confuse and upset the predator enough to so it won't attack them. It's also an early warning system for any other small birds in the area that a predator is in the area. In addition, by mobbing, the small birds try to drive the predator away from them and off to somewhere else.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Mariposa County and Madera County Fires
The state of California is currently undergoing its worst fire crisis in history. There are 330 wildfires burning in the state. We are still early in the fire season.
At the moment, the temperature is 90 degrees in Coarsegold.
The Big Sur Fire is still a pretty big deal, especially on its northeast end. Awesome coverage of that fire is on the Firefighter Blog. Even better is SurFire2008.org.
All told, these 11 fires on the Sierra National Forest burned 3,825 acres in late June and early July. All of the fires are controlled and mop-up and rehabilitation is ongoing. As of 2 PM July 3, there have been 20 injuries, three moderate and 17 minor, from the Oliver fire, but not one structure has been burned.
Oliver Fire:The cost of this fire has grown to 12.2 million. It was contained on July 5. Right now, the focus is on damage assessment and repair.
I toured the area of the Oliver Fire on July 3. There is not much to see. A bit of smoke can be seen from the Chowchilla River Bridge on Highway 49. You can also see some dead trees if you look closely.
I went up Chowchilla Mountain Road past Ponderosa Basin. Where the road turns to dirt, I drove until it is no longer maintained. Past the end of road maintenance, you can see where the firefighters were starting backfires and cutting down some of the thick brush and small trees. There, you can see the fire on the opposing mountain to the north of the road. It's burning, but not much.
The fire does not appear to have ever gotten close to Chowchilla Mountain Road, at least the portion that I drove. Whereas Ponderosa Basin was well-cleared of vegetation, that part of Chowchilla Mountain Road was incredibly overgrown with live oak, manzanita, Ponderosa Pine and God knows what else.
I then drove down Aurora Court (map). This dirt road was really terrible and was barely even drivable in a regular car. I finally turned around after a mile or so. You could see the fire burning on Crow Peak (map) to the north. At one point, the fire seemed to have burned down to Aurora Court itself.
On the slope opposite, it was still thickly forested, but the trees were brown instead of green because they burned. Actually, a number of the large trees will survive the burn and grow back.
A great deal of underbrush, including berry bushes and oaks, especially Black Oaks, will grow in the aftermath. Around here, wildlife use this type of underbrush quite a bit, and Black Oaks seem to be declining due to excessively thick evergreens, as Black Oaks need some sunlight to grow until they get tall enough.
This was not a fire that denuded slopes. They often don't in the Sierra Nevada because the vegetation is so thick, there is a lot of precipitation and the fires do not tend to burn extremely hot.
At the moment, there were mostly inmate crews working on the fire. These are minimum security prisoners from California prisons who have five years or less on their sentences and in general they are not a problem. They are paid $1/hour to fight fires, which is much more than they usually make. They're all volunteers, and they love to do this work.
Further, after their sentences are over, many go on to work for the CDF fire crews. California's prisons are full and overflowing. It is important for former inmates returning to society to have employment available to them.
I know a lot of young men around Madera who are on probation or have adult felonies on their records. They are finding it almost impossible to find work. It's understandable to punish people for being convicted of crimes. I've been convicted of a couple of misdemeanors myself.
Whether people need to be punished beyond their sentences is a good subject for debate. If we don't let them work, they just turn to sloth, beggary, crime and a sociopathic mindset.
Next I drove over to Jerseydale. You cannot see any of the fire burning in that area, although it is very beautiful.
Silver Knob Fire: This fire is 100% contained. The fire burned 570 acres.
Westfall Fire: This fire is 100% contained. The final tally on this fire was 105 acres burned. I toured the area of this fire from the road that turns off Highway 41 to the west just before Miami Mountain Road. Along the road to the north, you can see evidence of this fire.
It did not burn very hot, and mostly just burned along the ground and scorched some trees. Most if not all of the trees will survive. Even most of the manzanita bushes that burned were not killed, so this was not a hot fire at all. I drove for 2-3 miles west to where the road becomes almost undriveable in a passenger car, and then turned around. There are some really spectacular views to the south on this road.
The Star Fire near Star Lakes burned 400 acres and was contained on July 4.
The Chiquito Fire burned 54 acres and is 100% contained.
The Poison Fire burned 1 acre and is contained.
The Gagg Fire burned 1 acre is out.
The remaining four fires have been contained.
The Oliver Fire or the Oliver Creek Fire (formerly the Aurora Fire) burned on Chowchilla Mountain. The Oliver Fire burned north of Ponderosa Basin at about 3,300-6,500 feet in mixed brush and Ponderosa Pine forest in Mariposa County.
Chowchilla Mountain had not burned in 20 years and there have been very few fires there in the past 50 years. This has caused a huge amount of fuel to build up.
Here is a link to a pretty cool online scanner called the Central California Fire Feed that supposedly has very up-to-date fire information on it. It will play in an I Tunes Player. I wasn't able to get anything useful out of it.
A photo of the Oliver Fire burning around 7 PM June 23. Photo credit John Walker/Fresno Bee. That is the home of Joe and Yuki Carbaugh, and can easily be seen from the Highway 49 bridge. That home is on Harris Cutoff Road, which is one Hell of a crappy dirt road (I just drove it yesterday evening).
The Westfall Fire was located near Westfall Ranger Station on Highway 41 at about 5,000 feet in the mixed conifer forest. That's on the Madera-Mariposa County line.
The Silver Knob Fire burned near the Silver Knob (a 5,300 foot mountain west of Sugar Pine, northeast of Nipinawasee and just off Miami Mountain Road). It burned near a community called Cedarbrook.
Spectacular view of one of the fires apparently burning in heavy timber somewhere in Mariposa County.
The local creek here where I stay sometimes, Oak Creek, went dry on the third week of June. That's about 5 weeks early. It usually goes dry at the beginning of August.
Another view of a typical Oak Creek prefab. A whole lot of these homes are up for sale now, but it seems like nobody is buying. You have to pay $500/month to a homeowners' association, so in a way, it's like you're still renting.
This is what the homes in Oak Creek look like. This pic appears to have been taken in the rain. It rains about 20 inches a year here. This is where I stay when I come to the area.
Oak Creek Village as they were building it. There is quite a bit of wildlife around here. I have seen a bobcat near Oak Creek itself and others have seen a mountain lion around here. There are killdeer and California kingsnakes. Recently, I saw what appeared to be a sharp-shinned hawk attack and kill an acorn woodpecker right near where I was staying. The other woodpeckers mobbed the hawk as it carried away the member of their colony.
Even Coarsegold Creek is dry in much of its course in Coarsegold at the moment. That's awfully strange for the start of summer. Usually it goes dry in late summer to early fall.
Coarsegold Creek. Not sure where this was taken, but it was probably taken somewhere nearby. The terrain here, at 2,200 feet, is pretty much Interior Like Oak Woodland at least on the shady side of the hills. On the dry side, it is more of an open oak savanna.
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View of the smoke from the three large fires burning in the area. Even a relatively small fire can put out quite a bit of smoke if it burning trees and brush.
We're totally used to fires out here in California. I tell my friends in other parts of the country or world about them and they get all freaked out. If your own house isn't going to burn down or you're not going to get burned up yourself, it's no worries. Actually, they're kind of exciting.
One thing that is interesting is that fires create their own weather. For instance, there will be no wind at all, and then you drive over by the fire and there's a bit of a breeze whipping around. The fire is actually creating that wind by itself. Another thing is you really should not get too close to these fires.
I was watching one in Hacienda Heights, California, in 1989. The fire was burning really fast down this chaparral-covered hillside. Then these animals started running out of the brush, one by one! It was a trip to watch them. They'd run out of the brush and then there would be a crowd of people and they would not know what to do.
First a deer came careening out, and then another one. Then a woodrat came running out. That's a furry wild rat that lives in the brush - it's nothing like a dirty city rat at all. It builds huge nests out of brush and everything you could possibly think of, and that's where it lives. That's where the word pack rat comes from, because these rats will grab just about anything weird and stick in their stick houses.
Then a little deer mouse came running out. That's a wild mouse with huge ears that lives in the woods - it's nothing like the pests in your house at all. I've captured them when my cat caught them. Just put on a pair of surgical gloves and pick it up by the tail and put it on your hand. Then you can examine it or measure it or whatever.
If it was really messed up, I just gave it back to the cat, otherwise, I let it go. Then wash your hands afterwards and throw the gloves in hot soapy water, because can carry weird diseases.
Anyway, then this owl starts circling around in the middle of the day! That's the first time I've ever seen a Great Horned Owl in broad daylight, but I guess they figure a lot of rodents are going to come running out of the brush.
Then the fire starting getting closer. Well, at that point, look up in the air. You will see these damned embers flying around, often great big ones. They will start landing all around you and catching stuff on fire. I guess if they land on you, they burn you. These things actually fly like 100 yards or so ahead of the fire and some are big as banana peels.
At that point, you really need to get the Hell out and you're probably going to get a forced evac anyway.
This time of the year, you can look out at the Central Valley any day and see fires burning from somewhere in Central and Southern California. The smoke from a fire looks different from smog, so you can tell where the fires are. It's not scary or anything; it's just normal.
I do have a feeling that this is going to be a long, hot summer though in terms of fires. No way is it supposed to be this bad at the start of summer. Are you kidding? Jesus, I wonder what September will be like?
At the moment, the temperature is 90 degrees in Coarsegold.
The Big Sur Fire is still a pretty big deal, especially on its northeast end. Awesome coverage of that fire is on the Firefighter Blog. Even better is SurFire2008.org.
All told, these 11 fires on the Sierra National Forest burned 3,825 acres in late June and early July. All of the fires are controlled and mop-up and rehabilitation is ongoing. As of 2 PM July 3, there have been 20 injuries, three moderate and 17 minor, from the Oliver fire, but not one structure has been burned.
Oliver Fire:The cost of this fire has grown to 12.2 million. It was contained on July 5. Right now, the focus is on damage assessment and repair.
I toured the area of the Oliver Fire on July 3. There is not much to see. A bit of smoke can be seen from the Chowchilla River Bridge on Highway 49. You can also see some dead trees if you look closely.
I went up Chowchilla Mountain Road past Ponderosa Basin. Where the road turns to dirt, I drove until it is no longer maintained. Past the end of road maintenance, you can see where the firefighters were starting backfires and cutting down some of the thick brush and small trees. There, you can see the fire on the opposing mountain to the north of the road. It's burning, but not much.
The fire does not appear to have ever gotten close to Chowchilla Mountain Road, at least the portion that I drove. Whereas Ponderosa Basin was well-cleared of vegetation, that part of Chowchilla Mountain Road was incredibly overgrown with live oak, manzanita, Ponderosa Pine and God knows what else.
I then drove down Aurora Court (map). This dirt road was really terrible and was barely even drivable in a regular car. I finally turned around after a mile or so. You could see the fire burning on Crow Peak (map) to the north. At one point, the fire seemed to have burned down to Aurora Court itself.
On the slope opposite, it was still thickly forested, but the trees were brown instead of green because they burned. Actually, a number of the large trees will survive the burn and grow back.
A great deal of underbrush, including berry bushes and oaks, especially Black Oaks, will grow in the aftermath. Around here, wildlife use this type of underbrush quite a bit, and Black Oaks seem to be declining due to excessively thick evergreens, as Black Oaks need some sunlight to grow until they get tall enough.
This was not a fire that denuded slopes. They often don't in the Sierra Nevada because the vegetation is so thick, there is a lot of precipitation and the fires do not tend to burn extremely hot.
At the moment, there were mostly inmate crews working on the fire. These are minimum security prisoners from California prisons who have five years or less on their sentences and in general they are not a problem. They are paid $1/hour to fight fires, which is much more than they usually make. They're all volunteers, and they love to do this work.
Further, after their sentences are over, many go on to work for the CDF fire crews. California's prisons are full and overflowing. It is important for former inmates returning to society to have employment available to them.
I know a lot of young men around Madera who are on probation or have adult felonies on their records. They are finding it almost impossible to find work. It's understandable to punish people for being convicted of crimes. I've been convicted of a couple of misdemeanors myself.
Whether people need to be punished beyond their sentences is a good subject for debate. If we don't let them work, they just turn to sloth, beggary, crime and a sociopathic mindset.
Next I drove over to Jerseydale. You cannot see any of the fire burning in that area, although it is very beautiful.
Silver Knob Fire: This fire is 100% contained. The fire burned 570 acres.
Westfall Fire: This fire is 100% contained. The final tally on this fire was 105 acres burned. I toured the area of this fire from the road that turns off Highway 41 to the west just before Miami Mountain Road. Along the road to the north, you can see evidence of this fire.
It did not burn very hot, and mostly just burned along the ground and scorched some trees. Most if not all of the trees will survive. Even most of the manzanita bushes that burned were not killed, so this was not a hot fire at all. I drove for 2-3 miles west to where the road becomes almost undriveable in a passenger car, and then turned around. There are some really spectacular views to the south on this road.
The Star Fire near Star Lakes burned 400 acres and was contained on July 4.
The Chiquito Fire burned 54 acres and is 100% contained.
The Poison Fire burned 1 acre and is contained.
The Gagg Fire burned 1 acre is out.
The remaining four fires have been contained.
The Oliver Fire or the Oliver Creek Fire (formerly the Aurora Fire) burned on Chowchilla Mountain. The Oliver Fire burned north of Ponderosa Basin at about 3,300-6,500 feet in mixed brush and Ponderosa Pine forest in Mariposa County.
Chowchilla Mountain had not burned in 20 years and there have been very few fires there in the past 50 years. This has caused a huge amount of fuel to build up.
Here is a link to a pretty cool online scanner called the Central California Fire Feed that supposedly has very up-to-date fire information on it. It will play in an I Tunes Player. I wasn't able to get anything useful out of it.
A photo of the Oliver Fire burning around 7 PM June 23. Photo credit John Walker/Fresno Bee. That is the home of Joe and Yuki Carbaugh, and can easily be seen from the Highway 49 bridge. That home is on Harris Cutoff Road, which is one Hell of a crappy dirt road (I just drove it yesterday evening).
The Westfall Fire was located near Westfall Ranger Station on Highway 41 at about 5,000 feet in the mixed conifer forest. That's on the Madera-Mariposa County line.
The Silver Knob Fire burned near the Silver Knob (a 5,300 foot mountain west of Sugar Pine, northeast of Nipinawasee and just off Miami Mountain Road). It burned near a community called Cedarbrook.
Spectacular view of one of the fires apparently burning in heavy timber somewhere in Mariposa County.
Oakhurst FiresThe fires were sparked by dry lighting storms that struck all over the northern half of the state on Saturday amidst record-breaking high temperatures.
Acres Acres+ %increase
12AM 6-23 105 --- ---
1PM 6-23 240 135 128%
2PM 6-24 1490 1250 438%
845PM 6-24 1890 400 79%
7PM 6-25 2545 655 35%
9PM 6-26 2942 397 16%
9AM 6-27 2992 50 2%
7PM 6-28 3270 278 9%
845AM 6-30 3775 505 15%
--- 7-5 3775 0 0%
Westfall Fire (100% contained)
Acres Acres+ %increase
12AM 6-23 30 -- --
1PM 6-23 40 10 33%
9AM 6-25 50 10 25%
7PM 6-25 105 55 110%
Oliver Fire (100% contained)
Acres Acres+ %increase
12AM 6-23 75 --- ---
1PM 6-23 200 125 166%
2PM 6-24 1000 800 400%
8PM 6-24 1400 400 40%
7PM 6-25 2000 600 43%
7:30PM 6-26 2200 200 10%
7PM 6-28 2306 106 5%
8:45AM 6-30 2789 483 21%
--- 7-5 2789 0 0%
Silver Knob Fire (100% contained)
Acres Acres+ %increase
5:30PM 6-23 300 --- ---
2PM 6-24 400 100 33%
9AM 6-25 480 80 20%
9PM 6-26 480 0 0%
9AM 6-27 570 90 19%
Star Fire (100% contained)
Acres Acres+ %increase
2PM 6-24 30 --- ---
9AM 6-25 45 15 50%
9PM 6-26 200 155 440%
9AM 6-27 160 -40 -20%
6PM 6-28 330 170 106%
9AM 6-30 350 20 6%
--- 7-4 350 0 0%
Chiquito Fire (100% contained)
Acres Acres+ %increase
9AM 6-25 10 --- ---
9AM 6-26 52 42 320%
9AM 6-29 54 2 4%
The local creek here where I stay sometimes, Oak Creek, went dry on the third week of June. That's about 5 weeks early. It usually goes dry at the beginning of August.
Another view of a typical Oak Creek prefab. A whole lot of these homes are up for sale now, but it seems like nobody is buying. You have to pay $500/month to a homeowners' association, so in a way, it's like you're still renting.
This is what the homes in Oak Creek look like. This pic appears to have been taken in the rain. It rains about 20 inches a year here. This is where I stay when I come to the area.
Oak Creek Village as they were building it. There is quite a bit of wildlife around here. I have seen a bobcat near Oak Creek itself and others have seen a mountain lion around here. There are killdeer and California kingsnakes. Recently, I saw what appeared to be a sharp-shinned hawk attack and kill an acorn woodpecker right near where I was staying. The other woodpeckers mobbed the hawk as it carried away the member of their colony.
Even Coarsegold Creek is dry in much of its course in Coarsegold at the moment. That's awfully strange for the start of summer. Usually it goes dry in late summer to early fall.
Coarsegold Creek. Not sure where this was taken, but it was probably taken somewhere nearby. The terrain here, at 2,200 feet, is pretty much Interior Like Oak Woodland at least on the shady side of the hills. On the dry side, it is more of an open oak savanna.
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View of the smoke from the three large fires burning in the area. Even a relatively small fire can put out quite a bit of smoke if it burning trees and brush.
We're totally used to fires out here in California. I tell my friends in other parts of the country or world about them and they get all freaked out. If your own house isn't going to burn down or you're not going to get burned up yourself, it's no worries. Actually, they're kind of exciting.
One thing that is interesting is that fires create their own weather. For instance, there will be no wind at all, and then you drive over by the fire and there's a bit of a breeze whipping around. The fire is actually creating that wind by itself. Another thing is you really should not get too close to these fires.
I was watching one in Hacienda Heights, California, in 1989. The fire was burning really fast down this chaparral-covered hillside. Then these animals started running out of the brush, one by one! It was a trip to watch them. They'd run out of the brush and then there would be a crowd of people and they would not know what to do.
First a deer came careening out, and then another one. Then a woodrat came running out. That's a furry wild rat that lives in the brush - it's nothing like a dirty city rat at all. It builds huge nests out of brush and everything you could possibly think of, and that's where it lives. That's where the word pack rat comes from, because these rats will grab just about anything weird and stick in their stick houses.
Then a little deer mouse came running out. That's a wild mouse with huge ears that lives in the woods - it's nothing like the pests in your house at all. I've captured them when my cat caught them. Just put on a pair of surgical gloves and pick it up by the tail and put it on your hand. Then you can examine it or measure it or whatever.
If it was really messed up, I just gave it back to the cat, otherwise, I let it go. Then wash your hands afterwards and throw the gloves in hot soapy water, because can carry weird diseases.
Anyway, then this owl starts circling around in the middle of the day! That's the first time I've ever seen a Great Horned Owl in broad daylight, but I guess they figure a lot of rodents are going to come running out of the brush.
Then the fire starting getting closer. Well, at that point, look up in the air. You will see these damned embers flying around, often great big ones. They will start landing all around you and catching stuff on fire. I guess if they land on you, they burn you. These things actually fly like 100 yards or so ahead of the fire and some are big as banana peels.
At that point, you really need to get the Hell out and you're probably going to get a forced evac anyway.
This time of the year, you can look out at the Central Valley any day and see fires burning from somewhere in Central and Southern California. The smoke from a fire looks different from smog, so you can tell where the fires are. It's not scary or anything; it's just normal.
I do have a feeling that this is going to be a long, hot summer though in terms of fires. No way is it supposed to be this bad at the start of summer. Are you kidding? Jesus, I wonder what September will be like?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Wolverines Extinct in Sequoia - Kings Canyon?
A new study using baited trap stations, done during winter, failed to find any California wolverines in either Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks in the southern Sierra Nevada. However, in 1980, definite wolverine tracks were seen at two locales in Kings Canyon National Park by trained wildlife biologists. However, tracks always count as "unverified". But not to me.
I say that at least 28 years ago, wolverines were present in Kings Canyon National Park. Wolverine sightings in California do tend to be concentrated in Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks. This area was long held to be the last stronghold of the wolverine in California. Many detailed sightings were made from 1900-1930 in Sequoia National Park. In one, a wolverine chased two adult bears away from a horse carcass.
A map of historical wolverine sightings in Kings Canyon - Sequoia Parks. As you can see, sightings were much more common from 1920-1955 or so and have dropped off quite a bit ever since. Click to view.
The survey utilized many trap stations set in winter for a couple of months. It was designed to test for wolverines persisting at very low densities.
A map of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks showing the locations of the bait stations used in this survey. It also includes sightings since 1980. In the past 28 years, there have been nine wolverine sightings. That is about one sighting every three years, not a very good record. I am also aware of tracks spotted at Courtright Reservoir in 1990.
Courtright is located at the far west end of of rectangle 5a on the map, outside far northern Kings Canyon in the Sierra National Forest. These tracks were verified by Sierra National Forest wildlife biologists. I conclude therefore that wolverines were present near northern Kings Canyon at least 18 years ago.
I am also aware of another sighting out of Bishop, California on the Sierra crest in 1980. This sighting was by a wildlife biologist. The location of this sighting was just off this map to the north of the station labeled EV, north of Kings Canyon National Park. From 18-28 years ago, wolverines were present in and around Kings Canyon. Whether the have been extirpated since 1990 is yet an open question in my mind. Click to view.
It failed to find any wolverines and the researchers concluded that the California wolverine is likely extirpated from the Southern Sierra Nevada. Many other recent studies have also failed to find any wolverines.
However, this winter, a wolverine was photographed north of Lake Tahoe by researchers studying pine martens. DNA analysis has subsequently shown that this animal is from the Rocky Mountains and not a California wolverine. It is not known how this male wolverine got to the northern Sierra Nevada, since the nearest population is in the Snake River Valley in Idaho far to the north.
The researchers advocate that wolverines be reintroduced to the Sierras, since they seem to be absent from most of the range.
I believe that California wolverines may continue to persist at very low levels in the Sierras.
Historical wolverine sightings in Yosemite National Park. Once again, sightings were much more common from 1920-1955 or so. But there were still quite a few sightings in the 1990's.However, I am aware of some recent sightings in Yosemite in the 2000's that were not included in this map. I believe that the wolverine may continue to persist at low levels in Yosemite. Click to view.
In August 2006, there was an unverified sighting of a California wolverine in the Soda Creek drainage northeast of Rainbow Mountain in the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park.
The Soda Creek Drainage in Mineral King, where there was an unverified sighting of a wolverine on the northeast slope of Rainbow Mountain in August 2006. This is at the confluence of Soda Creek, Lost Canyon Creek and Big Arroyo Creek in the Kern River Watershed. I have been to Mineral King once backpacking in 1973. It's a pretty amazing place. If you can handle difficult hiking, it is worth the trip.
This part of the Sierra Nevada is a lot drier than the northern part where the wolverine photo was taken. According to a topo map I just found, the part of the Soda Creek drainage on the northeast slope of Mt. Rainbow would be very high, at about 10,826 feet. This shows that wolverines definitely range above 10,000 feet in the Southern Sierras.
Fishing is banned here to preserve a population of endangered Little Kern Golden Trout. There are also endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep in the area. I have seen these sheep in the mountains just outside Los Angeles. A once in a lifetime experience!
In addition, this webpage states that wolverines continue to exist in Mineral King. A backcountry ranger for Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park said that he was 99% sure that there had been good wolverine sightings in Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's as recently as 2003, despite these negative findings.
There have also been sightings on the Sequoia National Forest adjacent to these two national parks and the Sequoia National Monument. The last sighting was in 1988. Wolverines have been sighted as far south as Monache Meadows in the Dome Land Wilderness on the Sequoia NF, but the last sighting was in the 1950's.
The suggestion to reintroduce wolverines to the Sierra is probably the correct one.
The California wolverine as a proven subspecies is still controversial, and it seems to persist at either very low numbers in California or is extirpated altogether. California wolverines continue to exist in Oregon and Washington.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
I say that at least 28 years ago, wolverines were present in Kings Canyon National Park. Wolverine sightings in California do tend to be concentrated in Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks. This area was long held to be the last stronghold of the wolverine in California. Many detailed sightings were made from 1900-1930 in Sequoia National Park. In one, a wolverine chased two adult bears away from a horse carcass.
A map of historical wolverine sightings in Kings Canyon - Sequoia Parks. As you can see, sightings were much more common from 1920-1955 or so and have dropped off quite a bit ever since. Click to view.The survey utilized many trap stations set in winter for a couple of months. It was designed to test for wolverines persisting at very low densities.
A map of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks showing the locations of the bait stations used in this survey. It also includes sightings since 1980. In the past 28 years, there have been nine wolverine sightings. That is about one sighting every three years, not a very good record. I am also aware of tracks spotted at Courtright Reservoir in 1990.Courtright is located at the far west end of of rectangle 5a on the map, outside far northern Kings Canyon in the Sierra National Forest. These tracks were verified by Sierra National Forest wildlife biologists. I conclude therefore that wolverines were present near northern Kings Canyon at least 18 years ago.
I am also aware of another sighting out of Bishop, California on the Sierra crest in 1980. This sighting was by a wildlife biologist. The location of this sighting was just off this map to the north of the station labeled EV, north of Kings Canyon National Park. From 18-28 years ago, wolverines were present in and around Kings Canyon. Whether the have been extirpated since 1990 is yet an open question in my mind. Click to view.
It failed to find any wolverines and the researchers concluded that the California wolverine is likely extirpated from the Southern Sierra Nevada. Many other recent studies have also failed to find any wolverines.
However, this winter, a wolverine was photographed north of Lake Tahoe by researchers studying pine martens. DNA analysis has subsequently shown that this animal is from the Rocky Mountains and not a California wolverine. It is not known how this male wolverine got to the northern Sierra Nevada, since the nearest population is in the Snake River Valley in Idaho far to the north.
The researchers advocate that wolverines be reintroduced to the Sierras, since they seem to be absent from most of the range.
I believe that California wolverines may continue to persist at very low levels in the Sierras.
Historical wolverine sightings in Yosemite National Park. Once again, sightings were much more common from 1920-1955 or so. But there were still quite a few sightings in the 1990's.However, I am aware of some recent sightings in Yosemite in the 2000's that were not included in this map. I believe that the wolverine may continue to persist at low levels in Yosemite. Click to view.In August 2006, there was an unverified sighting of a California wolverine in the Soda Creek drainage northeast of Rainbow Mountain in the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park.
The Soda Creek Drainage in Mineral King, where there was an unverified sighting of a wolverine on the northeast slope of Rainbow Mountain in August 2006. This is at the confluence of Soda Creek, Lost Canyon Creek and Big Arroyo Creek in the Kern River Watershed. I have been to Mineral King once backpacking in 1973. It's a pretty amazing place. If you can handle difficult hiking, it is worth the trip.This part of the Sierra Nevada is a lot drier than the northern part where the wolverine photo was taken. According to a topo map I just found, the part of the Soda Creek drainage on the northeast slope of Mt. Rainbow would be very high, at about 10,826 feet. This shows that wolverines definitely range above 10,000 feet in the Southern Sierras.
Fishing is banned here to preserve a population of endangered Little Kern Golden Trout. There are also endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep in the area. I have seen these sheep in the mountains just outside Los Angeles. A once in a lifetime experience!
In addition, this webpage states that wolverines continue to exist in Mineral King. A backcountry ranger for Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park said that he was 99% sure that there had been good wolverine sightings in Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP's as recently as 2003, despite these negative findings.
There have also been sightings on the Sequoia National Forest adjacent to these two national parks and the Sequoia National Monument. The last sighting was in 1988. Wolverines have been sighted as far south as Monache Meadows in the Dome Land Wilderness on the Sequoia NF, but the last sighting was in the 1950's.
The suggestion to reintroduce wolverines to the Sierra is probably the correct one.
The California wolverine as a proven subspecies is still controversial, and it seems to persist at either very low numbers in California or is extirpated altogether. California wolverines continue to exist in Oregon and Washington.
References
- Graber D.M. 1996. Status of Terrestrial Vertebrates. SNEP Science Team and Special Consultants. Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Report 25:709-734.
Graber, D.M. 2006. Disturbing Yosemite. California 117:4.
Hudgens, Brian R., Garcelon, David K. 2008. Winter Carnivore Survey Finds that Wolverines (Gulo gulo) are Likely Extirpated from Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Arcata: Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Sequoia National Forest. 2003. Giant Sequoia National Monument Management Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement. United States Forest Service, USDA.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Additions to the Wolverine's Range in Idaho
The wolverine in Idaho is generally considered inhabit three main areas:
The first in the Sawtooth National Forest (northern part), Challis National Forest, Payette National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho.
Yet another population is in the Lochsa River Drainage in the Clearwater and Bitterroot Mountains in Clearwater National Forest.
A third population is to the north in the Selkirks along the Canadian border.
The three populations are considered to be separated from each other, although at least the first population is thought to be healthy.
Nevertheless, we continue to get reports of wolverines in other parts of Idaho. A previous post noted a wolverine on a telephone pole along the Snake River Valley in King Hill, Idaho, earlier this year.
A radio-collared wolverine recently traveled from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming across the Blackfoot and Caribou Mountains in the Targhee and Caribou National Forests in Southeastern Idaho, across private lands to the Portneuf Range west of the Portneuf River. This range is about 20 miles east of Pocatello, Idaho, and encompasses part of the Caribou National Forest and the Fort Hall Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation.
The breathtaking Portneuf Range east of Pocatello, Idaho, where the radio-collared wolverine ended up. It promptly turned right around and went back to the Tetons. In the Basin and Range Region.
A grazing allotment on the Blackfoot Mountains in southeastern Idaho. Lance Armstrong, the peripatetic wolverine, crossed this range on his way from the Grand Tetons to the Portneuf Range opposite Pocatello, Idaho. Grazing is thoroughly devastating BLM and Forest Service land in this region. The problem is particularly acute in Southern Idaho, as it is more arid. All livestock grazing pretty much needs to be banned in at least these areas.
Incredibly, livestock grazing is allowed in National Forest wilderness areas. This was one of the only ways that the 1964 Wilderness Act could get passed was to grandfather in these grazing allotments. It's insane that grazing is allowed in wilderness areas. Grazing is particularly devastating in high-elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada and anywhere in the arid West.
The cow evolved in England and prefers a cool climate with lots of water. In the arid West, cows congregate during the summer in the riparian areas, which they completely devastate. A grand total of 2% of all US beef comes from public lands in the West - most beef comes from feedlots in the Midwest. Public lands grazing is welfare - the allotments are rented out to the ranchers at far below market value, so the taxpayer gets totally screwed.
Not only do we get ripped off on the rental of our lands, but we also get our lands devastated in the process. The whole thing is completely insane. If ranchers can't make it ranching on private land, they need to get out of the business.
Furthermore, increasingly, public lands ranchers, like everything else in US capitalism, is going corporate. Mom and Pop ranchers are going out and ranching corporations are in. A large number of public lands grazing allotments are now being run by corporations as investment vehicles.
The long-ranging wolverine above was finally killed by a trapper just over the Montana border in the Centennial Range. Since the Centennials range into Idaho, we ought to add the Centennial Range in the Targhee National Forest to the wolverine's range in Idaho.
The spectacular Centennial Range on the border between Idaho and Montana. This is where the long-ranging wolverine named Lance Armstrong was finally killed by a trapper over the border into Montana.
Montana still allows trapping of wolverines, which takes about a dozen a year. Studies are showing that even that small take may be too much for wolverines to sustain. However, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission recently voted to set limits on wolverine trapping for the very first time.
Additional searching around the net noted that a wolverine had been shot dead by some boys in the Snake River Canyon in Idaho a few years back. They were worried and they brought it in to the Department of Fish and Game office, but the wardens let them go because they were kids and did not know what they were doing, although the wolverine is protected in Idaho.
The Snake River Canyon near Twin Falls, Idaho. Some teenage boys shot dead a wolverine here about three years ago, but were not charged. Clearly, wolverines do exist in this part of the Colombian Plateau. This is where Evil Knievel tried his ill-fated motorcycle jump across this canyon decades ago.
There are various definitions about what constitutes the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The most parsimonious definition says that it starts at the spectacular Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. It seems to continue west about 30 miles to 1000 Springs (great pics on that page) at Hagerman, where Wikipedia implies that it ends.
So this wolverine was apparently killed in the canyon between Twin Falls and Hagerman. That's only about 47 miles north of the Nevada border.
Way further afield, in the Seven Devils Mountains of far western Idaho in the Hell's River Canyon of the Snake River, wolverines exist As you can see in various places in this large document (page 6 for instance) they are actually doing surveys for their dens.
Included in the appendices is a report called Survey of Wolverine Dens in the Seven Devils Mountains of Hells Canyon.
The gorgeous Seven Devils Range in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. This range borders on Hell's Canyon and may serve as a steppingstone for wolverines to travel from Idaho across the Snake River to the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon.
There are also reports of wolverines in the Wood River Valley area. Part of the Wood River runs about 30 miles north of Twin Falls, but the Wood River Valley refers to private land about 60-70 miles north of Twin Falls. It includes the towns of Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue. We should extend wolverine habitat down from the Sawtooths into the Wood River Valley. There have been recent sightings in the Sun Valley area.
On the webpage for Power County, a county in southeastern Idaho west and southwest of Pocatello, the county claims that wolverines occur there. There are various ranges there, including the Bannock Range, the Sublette Range and the Deep Creek Range.
The spectacular Deep Creek Range in southeastern Idaho. It is about 40 miles long, and is bounded by Arbon Valley on the East and Rockland Valley on the West as it ranges through Power County. Wolverines may well exist here. Another Basin and Range mountain range.
The Bannock Range in southeastern Idaho. Both the Bannock and the Deep Creek Ranges are southwest of Pocatello. The Bannocks extend from Pocatello 85 miles south into northern Utah through the Caribou National Forest. Wolverines may well exist in this range. Also located in the Basin and Range region.
Photos of all of these beautiful ranges can be seen on Ralph Maughan's excellent blog. Maughan is a professor of political science at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He's also really big on wolves.
Incredibly, the Bush Administration has removed all protections for all wolves in the United States! The Rocky Mountains population is doing fairly well, but they just completely removed the wolves from the endangered species list and handed management of them over to the states, who are proceeding to slaughter them as fast as they can!
Web page on myths about wolves. Wolves are hardly dangerous at all to humans. Predators killed 12,100 sheep in Idaho last year. Of those, a little more than 2% were killed by wolves. Domestic dogs killed far more and coyotes killed the most of all. There is nothing to do with coyotes, and no way to get rid of them. The more you do predator control against them, the more sheep they kill.
Ranchers claim that wolves are devastating Idaho's cattle industry. Wolves killed 24 cows in Idaho last year, .03 of all losses. All predators accounted for only 3% of all losses, and wolves accounted for less than 1% of all predator losses. Ranchers are reimbursed for all of their losses to wolves anyway.
This is a clear consequence of White Rule in America. White Rule has meant a total corporate takeover of every nook and cranny in this nation, along with utter devastation of our environment and every non-utilitarian form of non-human life in it.
What's odd is that surveys of Americans, including most Whites, show that they are strong environmentalists. But environmentalism is way down on the list. What's high on the list? Although most US Whites will tell you that they are not racist, the movement of US Whites towards the Republican Party from 1980-present has been pretty much predicated on race.
It's coincided with a dramatic decrease in the White % in this country. You tell me that is a coincidence? Forget it! When I was coming of age in the late 1970's, this was probably an 82% White country. The vast majority of people that I grew up with, went to high school, junior college and even college with, were White. The people I met at my jobs and on college trips were almost all White. It was just a White World.
Since 1980, our White World has gotten darker and darker. Whites have dropped from 82% of the US to about 64% and it's dropping all the time. This has amazingly coincided with Whites leaving liberalism en masse and voting hard rightwing Republican. The White Republican politics has gotten harder and harder rightwing with time.
During the 1990's and into the Bush Administration, we are now dealing with quite possibly the most rightwing President this country has ever seen - and it's all the fault of White people. Why are Whites voting more and more reactionary with time? Because their rule is coming to an end.
This is a predictable political trend for any ruling group which is desperately trying to hold onto power in the face of rising opposition. In truth, ruling groups often opt for dictatorship and often fascism as they desperately try to cling to power.
In summary, occupied wolverine habitat in Idaho should be extended beyond the description at the beginning to the post to Power County, Elmore County, the Snake River Valley, the Blackfoot Mountains, the Centennial Range, the Caribou Range, the Snake River Range, the Big Hole Mountains, the Targhee and Caribou National Forests, the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, the Portneuf Range, the Seven Devils Mountains , the Snake River Canyon and possibly the Bannock and Deep Creek Ranges.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
The first in the Sawtooth National Forest (northern part), Challis National Forest, Payette National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho.
Yet another population is in the Lochsa River Drainage in the Clearwater and Bitterroot Mountains in Clearwater National Forest.
A third population is to the north in the Selkirks along the Canadian border.
The three populations are considered to be separated from each other, although at least the first population is thought to be healthy.
Nevertheless, we continue to get reports of wolverines in other parts of Idaho. A previous post noted a wolverine on a telephone pole along the Snake River Valley in King Hill, Idaho, earlier this year.
A radio-collared wolverine recently traveled from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming across the Blackfoot and Caribou Mountains in the Targhee and Caribou National Forests in Southeastern Idaho, across private lands to the Portneuf Range west of the Portneuf River. This range is about 20 miles east of Pocatello, Idaho, and encompasses part of the Caribou National Forest and the Fort Hall Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation.
The breathtaking Portneuf Range east of Pocatello, Idaho, where the radio-collared wolverine ended up. It promptly turned right around and went back to the Tetons. In the Basin and Range Region.
A grazing allotment on the Blackfoot Mountains in southeastern Idaho. Lance Armstrong, the peripatetic wolverine, crossed this range on his way from the Grand Tetons to the Portneuf Range opposite Pocatello, Idaho. Grazing is thoroughly devastating BLM and Forest Service land in this region. The problem is particularly acute in Southern Idaho, as it is more arid. All livestock grazing pretty much needs to be banned in at least these areas.Incredibly, livestock grazing is allowed in National Forest wilderness areas. This was one of the only ways that the 1964 Wilderness Act could get passed was to grandfather in these grazing allotments. It's insane that grazing is allowed in wilderness areas. Grazing is particularly devastating in high-elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada and anywhere in the arid West.
The cow evolved in England and prefers a cool climate with lots of water. In the arid West, cows congregate during the summer in the riparian areas, which they completely devastate. A grand total of 2% of all US beef comes from public lands in the West - most beef comes from feedlots in the Midwest. Public lands grazing is welfare - the allotments are rented out to the ranchers at far below market value, so the taxpayer gets totally screwed.
Not only do we get ripped off on the rental of our lands, but we also get our lands devastated in the process. The whole thing is completely insane. If ranchers can't make it ranching on private land, they need to get out of the business.
Furthermore, increasingly, public lands ranchers, like everything else in US capitalism, is going corporate. Mom and Pop ranchers are going out and ranching corporations are in. A large number of public lands grazing allotments are now being run by corporations as investment vehicles.
The long-ranging wolverine above was finally killed by a trapper just over the Montana border in the Centennial Range. Since the Centennials range into Idaho, we ought to add the Centennial Range in the Targhee National Forest to the wolverine's range in Idaho.
The spectacular Centennial Range on the border between Idaho and Montana. This is where the long-ranging wolverine named Lance Armstrong was finally killed by a trapper over the border into Montana.Montana still allows trapping of wolverines, which takes about a dozen a year. Studies are showing that even that small take may be too much for wolverines to sustain. However, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission recently voted to set limits on wolverine trapping for the very first time.
Additional searching around the net noted that a wolverine had been shot dead by some boys in the Snake River Canyon in Idaho a few years back. They were worried and they brought it in to the Department of Fish and Game office, but the wardens let them go because they were kids and did not know what they were doing, although the wolverine is protected in Idaho.
The Snake River Canyon near Twin Falls, Idaho. Some teenage boys shot dead a wolverine here about three years ago, but were not charged. Clearly, wolverines do exist in this part of the Colombian Plateau. This is where Evil Knievel tried his ill-fated motorcycle jump across this canyon decades ago.There are various definitions about what constitutes the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The most parsimonious definition says that it starts at the spectacular Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. It seems to continue west about 30 miles to 1000 Springs (great pics on that page) at Hagerman, where Wikipedia implies that it ends.
So this wolverine was apparently killed in the canyon between Twin Falls and Hagerman. That's only about 47 miles north of the Nevada border.
Way further afield, in the Seven Devils Mountains of far western Idaho in the Hell's River Canyon of the Snake River, wolverines exist As you can see in various places in this large document (page 6 for instance) they are actually doing surveys for their dens.
Included in the appendices is a report called Survey of Wolverine Dens in the Seven Devils Mountains of Hells Canyon.
The gorgeous Seven Devils Range in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. This range borders on Hell's Canyon and may serve as a steppingstone for wolverines to travel from Idaho across the Snake River to the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon.There are also reports of wolverines in the Wood River Valley area. Part of the Wood River runs about 30 miles north of Twin Falls, but the Wood River Valley refers to private land about 60-70 miles north of Twin Falls. It includes the towns of Ketchum, Sun Valley, Hailey and Bellevue. We should extend wolverine habitat down from the Sawtooths into the Wood River Valley. There have been recent sightings in the Sun Valley area.
On the webpage for Power County, a county in southeastern Idaho west and southwest of Pocatello, the county claims that wolverines occur there. There are various ranges there, including the Bannock Range, the Sublette Range and the Deep Creek Range.
The spectacular Deep Creek Range in southeastern Idaho. It is about 40 miles long, and is bounded by Arbon Valley on the East and Rockland Valley on the West as it ranges through Power County. Wolverines may well exist here. Another Basin and Range mountain range.
The Bannock Range in southeastern Idaho. Both the Bannock and the Deep Creek Ranges are southwest of Pocatello. The Bannocks extend from Pocatello 85 miles south into northern Utah through the Caribou National Forest. Wolverines may well exist in this range. Also located in the Basin and Range region.Photos of all of these beautiful ranges can be seen on Ralph Maughan's excellent blog. Maughan is a professor of political science at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He's also really big on wolves.
Incredibly, the Bush Administration has removed all protections for all wolves in the United States! The Rocky Mountains population is doing fairly well, but they just completely removed the wolves from the endangered species list and handed management of them over to the states, who are proceeding to slaughter them as fast as they can!
Web page on myths about wolves. Wolves are hardly dangerous at all to humans. Predators killed 12,100 sheep in Idaho last year. Of those, a little more than 2% were killed by wolves. Domestic dogs killed far more and coyotes killed the most of all. There is nothing to do with coyotes, and no way to get rid of them. The more you do predator control against them, the more sheep they kill.
Ranchers claim that wolves are devastating Idaho's cattle industry. Wolves killed 24 cows in Idaho last year, .03 of all losses. All predators accounted for only 3% of all losses, and wolves accounted for less than 1% of all predator losses. Ranchers are reimbursed for all of their losses to wolves anyway.
This is a clear consequence of White Rule in America. White Rule has meant a total corporate takeover of every nook and cranny in this nation, along with utter devastation of our environment and every non-utilitarian form of non-human life in it.
What's odd is that surveys of Americans, including most Whites, show that they are strong environmentalists. But environmentalism is way down on the list. What's high on the list? Although most US Whites will tell you that they are not racist, the movement of US Whites towards the Republican Party from 1980-present has been pretty much predicated on race.
It's coincided with a dramatic decrease in the White % in this country. You tell me that is a coincidence? Forget it! When I was coming of age in the late 1970's, this was probably an 82% White country. The vast majority of people that I grew up with, went to high school, junior college and even college with, were White. The people I met at my jobs and on college trips were almost all White. It was just a White World.
Since 1980, our White World has gotten darker and darker. Whites have dropped from 82% of the US to about 64% and it's dropping all the time. This has amazingly coincided with Whites leaving liberalism en masse and voting hard rightwing Republican. The White Republican politics has gotten harder and harder rightwing with time.
During the 1990's and into the Bush Administration, we are now dealing with quite possibly the most rightwing President this country has ever seen - and it's all the fault of White people. Why are Whites voting more and more reactionary with time? Because their rule is coming to an end.
This is a predictable political trend for any ruling group which is desperately trying to hold onto power in the face of rising opposition. In truth, ruling groups often opt for dictatorship and often fascism as they desperately try to cling to power.
In summary, occupied wolverine habitat in Idaho should be extended beyond the description at the beginning to the post to Power County, Elmore County, the Snake River Valley, the Blackfoot Mountains, the Centennial Range, the Caribou Range, the Snake River Range, the Big Hole Mountains, the Targhee and Caribou National Forests, the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, the Portneuf Range, the Seven Devils Mountains , the Snake River Canyon and possibly the Bannock and Deep Creek Ranges.
References
- Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Predator Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, and Superior Wilderness Action Network. (2000). Petition for a rule to list the wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) as Threatened or Endangered under the Endangered Species Act within the contiguous United States. Submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service on July 11, 2000.
Edelman, Frank and Copeland, Jeff. 1999. Wolverine Distribution in the Northwestern United States and a Survey in the Seven Devils Mountains of Idaho. Northwest Science 62:181-185.
Groves, Craig R. 1988. Distribution of the wolverine in Idaho as determined by mail questionnaire. Northwest Science 62(4):181-5.
Predator Conservation Alliance. 2001. Predator Conservation Alliance's Literature Summary - Draft - January 24, 2001 - Draft Conservation Status and Needs of the Wolverine (Gulo gulo).
Wildlife Conservation Society 2004. Wolverine Takes A Road Trip: Scientists Track Male Animal Over A Three-state, 550-mile Walk-about. Science Daily.
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Monday, May 05, 2008
Wolverines in New Mexico
This particular post will deal with the question of wolverines in the state of New Mexico.
Wolverines may yet exist in New Mexico. Interviews with hunters in northern New Mexico conducted in 1864 indicated that the wolverine occurred in New Mexico at that time. An Acoma Indian interviewed in 1931 said that wolverines formerly occurred in all of the mountains of northern New Mexico.
In 1985, there was a published report of a wolverine sighting in tundra habitat on Latir Peak in the Sangre De Cristos in New Mexico.
Latir Peak in the Latir Peak Wilderness Area in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos, New Mexico. A wolverine was sighted in tundra here in 1985.
There have been several other probable wolverine sightings recently in the New Mexico Sangre De Cristos.
Lake Fork Peak in the spectacular Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. The red line indicates the route taken by mountain climbers who bagged this peak. There have been several sightings of wolverines in this rugged range in recent years and northern New Mexico was formerly wolverine habitat.
Click the wolverines label at the end of the post to see other posts on wolverines in the US, including many sighting reports and photos.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
Wolverines may yet exist in New Mexico. Interviews with hunters in northern New Mexico conducted in 1864 indicated that the wolverine occurred in New Mexico at that time. An Acoma Indian interviewed in 1931 said that wolverines formerly occurred in all of the mountains of northern New Mexico.
In 1985, there was a published report of a wolverine sighting in tundra habitat on Latir Peak in the Sangre De Cristos in New Mexico.
Latir Peak in the Latir Peak Wilderness Area in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos, New Mexico. A wolverine was sighted in tundra here in 1985.There have been several other probable wolverine sightings recently in the New Mexico Sangre De Cristos.
Lake Fork Peak in the spectacular Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. The red line indicates the route taken by mountain climbers who bagged this peak. There have been several sightings of wolverines in this rugged range in recent years and northern New Mexico was formerly wolverine habitat.Click the wolverines label at the end of the post to see other posts on wolverines in the US, including many sighting reports and photos.
References
- Frey, J.K. 2006. Inferring species distributions in the absence of occurrence records: an example considering wolverine (Gulo gulo) and Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in New Mexico. Biological Conservation 130:16-24.
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Wolverine Spotted in Snake River Valley in Idaho
This is actually a pretty interesting sighting. We have always known that there are wolverines in the national forests of mountainous central and northern Idaho and there are some sightings in the Hell's Canyon area of the Snake River along the Oregon/Idaho border, but I was not aware of any recent sightings in the Colombian Plateau of Idaho until I read this article.
The terrain in King Hill, Idaho. Not exactly prime wolverine habitat, but wolverines have been road-killed and trapped in similar locales recently in Wyoming, Oregon and Utah.
However, recent sightings and roadkilled wolverines in similar habitat in the West in Utah, Oregon and Wyoming indicate that wolverines do use such habitats, possibly especially when dispersing.
This wolverine was actually sitting on a telephone pole in the middle of the day near a small town!
A wolverine got stranded on a telephone pole in King Hill, Idaho on March 25 of this year. That photo actually looks kind of ridiculous. Tell me again how these animals hate people so much that they can't stand to go anywhere near us. Right.
It was spotted along Montgomery Road near King Hill, Idaho. King Hill is located about 57 miles northwest of Twin Falls, Idaho. Wildlife officials were called in and decided to just wait around until the wolverine climbed down off the pole.
The initial caller had reported a badger on a telephone pole, but badgers don't climb. They can dig a hole faster than any animal alive, but they can't climb a thing. Badgers and wolverines appear to be relatives - they are both very large weasel-type animals.
There have been two other sightings of wolverines in "the valley" (apparently the Snake River Valley, whatever that encompasses) in the past two years. I don't know much about the economic base of this county, but at least wine grapes are grown here.
Sagebrush terrain in the Eastern Snake River Valley of Idaho. King Hill is at the western end of the Eastern Snake River Valley. Pretty odd to find wolverines here, but they have been spotted at least 3 times in 2 years in this region.
The fact that wolverines are dispersing out in the Great Basin may mean that some day in the not too distant future they may return to Nevada. King Hill is a mere 63 miles north of the Nevada border.
Click the wolverines label at the end of the post to see other posts on wolverines in the US, including many sighting reports and photos.
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
The terrain in King Hill, Idaho. Not exactly prime wolverine habitat, but wolverines have been road-killed and trapped in similar locales recently in Wyoming, Oregon and Utah.However, recent sightings and roadkilled wolverines in similar habitat in the West in Utah, Oregon and Wyoming indicate that wolverines do use such habitats, possibly especially when dispersing.
This wolverine was actually sitting on a telephone pole in the middle of the day near a small town!
A wolverine got stranded on a telephone pole in King Hill, Idaho on March 25 of this year. That photo actually looks kind of ridiculous. Tell me again how these animals hate people so much that they can't stand to go anywhere near us. Right.It was spotted along Montgomery Road near King Hill, Idaho. King Hill is located about 57 miles northwest of Twin Falls, Idaho. Wildlife officials were called in and decided to just wait around until the wolverine climbed down off the pole.
The initial caller had reported a badger on a telephone pole, but badgers don't climb. They can dig a hole faster than any animal alive, but they can't climb a thing. Badgers and wolverines appear to be relatives - they are both very large weasel-type animals.
There have been two other sightings of wolverines in "the valley" (apparently the Snake River Valley, whatever that encompasses) in the past two years. I don't know much about the economic base of this county, but at least wine grapes are grown here.
Sagebrush terrain in the Eastern Snake River Valley of Idaho. King Hill is at the western end of the Eastern Snake River Valley. Pretty odd to find wolverines here, but they have been spotted at least 3 times in 2 years in this region.The fact that wolverines are dispersing out in the Great Basin may mean that some day in the not too distant future they may return to Nevada. King Hill is a mere 63 miles north of the Nevada border.
Click the wolverines label at the end of the post to see other posts on wolverines in the US, including many sighting reports and photos.
References
- Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Predator Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, and Superior Wilderness Action Network. (2000). Petition for a rule to list the wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) as Threatened or Endangered under the Endangered Species Act within the contiguous United States. Submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service on July 11, 2000.
Groves, Craig R. 1988. Distribution of the wolverine in Idaho as determined by mail questionnaire. Northwest Science 62(4):181-5.
Predator Conservation Alliance. (2001) Predator Conservation Alliance's Literature Summary - Draft - January 24, 2001 - Draft Conservation Status and Needs of the Wolverine (Gulo gulo).
Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.
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