Zoo Boise grant goes to Friends of Scotchman Peaks in a landslide

In a public vote held by Zoo Boise that ended Friday, Oct. 28, a wolverine study grant proposal written by Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness executive director Phil Hough was not only chosen as one of four to be funded, but won "going away."

The proposal to help fund an expanded Idaho Fish and Game wolverine study in North Idaho and western Montana received the most votes of any of the eight proposals that made the final list of contenders for the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund grants.

"I was amazed by our vote total," Hough said. "We were up against stiff competition, and we were also the smallest organization in the running."

The other seven proposals were from the International Rhino Foundation, the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Orangutan Foundation International, American Bird Conservancy, the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville Texas, Endangered Species International and Cheetah Conservation Botswana.

The other good news for FSWP, which is based in Sandpoint and Heron, Mont., is that they received the full amount they applied for, a total of $29,700. With the grant, FSPW will not only provide two dozen new Reconix remote cameras to the study, but they will hire a half-time project coordinator for the study. The project will be conducted by IDFG in cooperation with Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, Idaho Conservation League, Selkirk Outdoor Leadership & Education, Selkirk Conservation Alliance and other community volunteers.

"This is a continuation of a project we got involved in with IDFG last year," says FSPW program coordinator Sandy Compton. "We were amazed by how much interest it generated from our volunteers and the general public, and we're alerting our volunteers about the upcoming opportunity now."

The original project, initiated by IDFG biologists Michael Lucid and Lacy Robinson, attracted dozens of volunteer-days from groups and individuals during the 2010-11 winter, as well as captured pictures at remote-camera bait stations of a variety of mustelids that include martins, fishers and wolverines. With the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund grant, FSPW will help expand the hunt.

"Last year," says Robinson, "we worked on a 10-kilometer grid. This year, we will be able to get lots more information with a 5-k grid."

Lucid and Robinson will also have at their disposal a number of portable wolverine traps that can be moved relatively quickly into an area when one of the remote cameras has spotted a wolverine. The hope is to capture and collar females and to better identify how many are in the Scotchman Peaks and American Selkirks. The information gathered will be useful in helping the Forest Service develop winter travel plans as well as monitoring the population of mustelids.

A half-day winter awareness training for wolverine volunteers is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3, at the USFS Sandpoint Ranger District offices at 1602 Ontario in Sandpoint. USFS avalanche expert Kevin Davis will lead the class beginning at 12:30 p.m.