OUR
COMMENTS - December, 2002
Tracking Wolves in Maine, Winter Wildlife at First Mountain
Wolves, Lynx & Mountain Lions
At the beginning of this month, I attended an intensive two-day tracking workshop focusing on wolves, mountain lions, and the Canada lynx. The lynx is now well documented as a viable population in northwest Maine, an occasional wolf has been shot or trapped in northern Maine near the Canadian border, and we still hear of the mysterious sighting of a mountain lion in Fryeburg on the Maine/New Hampshire border or in northern Vermont (always undocumented however). The National Wildlife Federation offered the training in Falmouth, Maine to me and another eleven hardy souls so that we may travel to the snows of northwestern Maine two or three times each month to perform winter tracking surveys for these carnivores.
The lynx is on the federal and Maine lists of threatened species and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently preparing a recovery plan for the lynx in Maine. We will look for lynx tracks on our wolf tracking forays in order to assist the USF&WS and look for any evidence that Maine's coyote snaring program might be a threat to the lynx. We will be studying mountain lions on the chance that there really are a few of those large predators still roaming somewhere in the northeast.
Though
the gray wolf is on the federal list, it will likely be delisted in the coming
months, based upon the recovery of the wolf in the upper Midwest and other
parts of the U.S. Maine does not list the wolf, primarily because it was
extirpated and not believed to be present, and in Maine it will be at risk
if delisted by the federal government. DNA results are pending on a possible
wolf carcass retrieved by a Canadian trapper south of the St. Lawrence River
just twenty miles from the Maine border last winter. The heavily populated
southern Canada border and St. Lawrence River were believed to be a significant
deterrent to wolves returning to the northeast United States on their own,
but the recent trapping may cast doubt on that assumption.
Some wolf experts believe that there may now be a small population of wolves along the northern Maine border, though most experts still feel that reintroduction by humans is the only way the wolf can again become a part of the northeast ecosystem. However, sportsman's groups in both Maine and New Hampshire will vehemently oppose any reintroduction of wolves by USF&WS. It is hoped that documentation of a distinct population of wolves already in northern Maine might allow federal authorities to treat that population differently than the soon to be delisted gray wolf of the Midwest. You can learn more about the gray wolf at USF&WS and the NWF websites. I have also created a handy Chart to aid in differentiating wolves from other canids, based upon wolf expert Jim Hammill's original work.
I once spent a morning in the Algoma Highlands in Ontario, Canada following a set of tracks left by three wolves along several miles of cross country ski trails. The tracks eventually met those of two other wolves and you could read the signs of their excited reunion in the snow tracks. The joined pack then doubled back on our first set of tracks and left on a side trail down to Harmony Bay on Lake Superior. Skiers staying at the Stokely Creek Ski Resort always referred to this downhill trail as the "Beer Run", because there was a restaurant and bar at the end and you could call the lodge for a ride back after tipping a few. I don't suppose the wolves cared a whit about that. It will be challenging to find such clear signs of wolf in northern Maine.
Early Winter at First Mountain
Back at First Mountain in New Hampshire, we have already had two significant snowfalls by mid November and I had to clear the 500 foot drive by shoveling once and had to have the drive plowed another time to remove a six inch snowfall. A trail of deer tracks has already started between the hemlock ridges where they yard for the winter and I also found bear tracks passing through the wetland in the recent snow. I found another potential bear den just above the wetland earlier this fall and will wait to check it later this season after any bear has had an opportunity to get well into hibernation mode.
We are going to be hosting a Winter Wildlife Workshop for Coos County Coverts Cooperators at First Mountain in February and already it looks like we are going to be in for a more normal North Country winter. The past few years have provided no significant winter weather or snowfall until January, but this year we are already well into winter conditions in November.
I had finally begun doing trail work and some Timber Stand Improvement after leaving the AMC job at the beginning of October, but the early snow has made that type of work much harder. I am removing dead and malformed trees and pruning lower branches on spruce and pine in the woodlands nearer the cottage in order to give the woods there a more open and park-like look. As a side benefit, I am also creating a number of new brush piles for wildlife. The thicket of Virginia roses I planted two springs ago are now bearing a heavy crop of rose-hips, though wildlife should take quick advantage before the three to four foot tall plants are covered by snow. I'm also still working on the wood pile trying to get stacked logs sawn and split into stove length so that the split wood can over-winter under cover and be seasoned for next year's burning in the wood stove. Last week I was digging the logs out of the snow before I could saw them on my log cutting stand.
Christmas Tree Cutting
I will cut our Christmas tree later this week when I return to the mountain. When I was growing up in central Ohio, we always got our Christmas tree from the woods surrounding our rural home and I would have thought it foreign to actually pay someone for a tree. Mom eventually became a fan of the more modern artificial tree, which is just as well considering that our old rural home is now buried under a giant Mejier Superstore and the only surrounding woods consist of a few ornamental plantings. (Except for a tiny little corner at what was the back of my grandparent's adjacent seven acre farm lot - where now the little pond, some huge oak trees, and maybe an acre of honest to God real natural world still tries to exist. As I age I begin to realize that I am very much like my grandfather who nurtured that lovely site.) I finished college and moved on to the suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana and any Christmas trees then had to come from a growers lot and were trucked in to our town.
We have had real Christmas trees from the First Mountain Forest since moving to New England and even had the luxury of two trees one year. Not a perfectly sculpted and pruned row grown tree, but a quaint "Charlie Brown" or Victorian sort of tree right out of the woods. Thanks to Public Service New Hampshire, I am turning the 700 foot long power line easement behind the cottage into a mini Christmas tree farm. The power company periodically cuts every living tree along the line, leaving a giant mess, but also some good firewood. I am relieving PSNH of the responsibility of keeping their line clear by suppressing all hardwoods underneath and letting the expansive blueberry patches enjoy the full sun. It is also a great bed for softwood seedlings that I am nurturing. I eventually transplant the hemlock and pines to sites where they can grow to full maturity and leave the spruces to grow into Christmas trees for the coming years.
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
Late Note: We experienced a Nor'easter storm late on Christmas day and received about 18 -20 inches of snow overnight, though the mountain received only 4 to 5 inches. With fresh thoughts of snow, I just added an essay to the homepage about COPING WITH SNOW IN THE NORTH COUNTRY.
Larry
Note: Wolf photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife Service
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