Elkhorn Ranger Station
Lindsey rescenting a snare pile This past week I have trekked through some beautiful areas of Olympic National Park, beginning with the bear monitoring up past Hayes Ranch on the Elwha, and then out to Hoh for a leisure backpack adventure. The bear trip went very smoothly, Lindsey and Carolyn were great company and between the gorgeous scenery, storytelling, and delicious food, I forgot that this was technically a "business trip". In total, we visited 9 bear snares, located between the Lillian crest and 2 miles above Hayes Ranch. Each snare visit required an inspection of the barbed wire for any bear hair and the rescenting of a centrally-located woodpile, hanging lure-drenched rag, and rub tree. The rag and rub tree were scented with a pungent beaver castor and the woodpile was saturated with fermented cattle blood - a scent I swear still lingers in my pack...
While out, we saw two black bears, a young little guy who immediately climbed a tree when we spotted him and then a larger adult who was roaming the floodplain and darted off after seeing us. Both encounters provided great visuals without that unnerving feeling - the perfect bear sitings! In total, we spent 4 days up the Elwha and only collected hair from 1 snare, a disappointing collection but pretty standard for this time of year according to the professionals.
Like much of the wildlife research, the bear hair will be analyzed for nutrient content, focusing on marine-derived concentrations. This is the 3rd and final year of this study, and the results will be compared to a 3 year study following the dam removal to see how nutrient dynamics change with hopeful anadromous fish migration and other dam removal activity.
