Glacier Park volunteers study wolverines

A creature long-maligned is finally getting some positive attention. The wolverine, one of Glacier National Park's most rugged animals, is the subject of an ongoing study by biologists to learn more about the mysterious animal.

"We're trying to get out there and learn everything we can," said volunteer and local author Doug Chadwick. "The single most concentrated, vigorous population we know of in the Lower 48 is in Glacier National Park, and we're only talking about 40 to 45 animals."

Glacier Park biologist John Waller described the study as a continuation of the wolverine study that biologist Jeff Copeland completed in 2009. That study trapped members of the local population and used telemetry to gain information about travel and mating habits.

The current study uses tall posts, to which road-kill deer legs or beaver tails are affixed, fitted with gun brushes to catch the hair of wolverines scrambling up the poles to eat the meat.

Waller said he hopes the study will yield information about the genetic diversity of the Glacier wolverine population.

"The significance of the study depends on what we learn," Waller said.

About 50 volunteers have helped check the bait posts over the winter.

"One of the things we learned from the telemetry study is that wolverines travel along lake shores," Waller said. "Places we could intercept traveling wolverines are Bowman, Quartz and Logging lakes and drainages."

About 30 bait posts have been placed throughout the park. The samples will be sent to Missoula for analysis.

The study has cost about $1,500.

Chadwick said the study may determine wolverine survivorship and reproductive abilities of females. If successful, there's a possibility the study could expand into the Flathead National Forest, where there is a small known wolverine population.

"Glacier has been a great place for the recovery of wolverines," said Rick Yates, a biologist who helped with the telemetry study. "That's what piqued my interest, that we didn't know a lot about them. It's like an archaeologist finding a new tomb in Egypt."

Though this year's study has come to an end, folks interested in volunteering in the future are urged to contact the park.

"As a person who has spent a lifetime hiking, here's an animal who can master mountains," Chadwick said. "I have a mixture of admiration and 'gee whiz' factor."