This past winter biologists across 4 states deployed 180 cameras in wolverine habitat as part of the Western States Wolverine Camera Survey. Unlike the cameras we checked all through the winter by snow machine and skis, 12 cameras in Idaho were so remote we set them up late last fall, before the snow came, and hoped they would function throughout the winter.
Now that snow is finally disappearing in the backcountry, we're collecting those cameras by whatever means possible, mostly by mountain bike and on foot. The cameras reliably took pictures for nine months, photos that are now entertaining us, include the antics of marten in the snowy winter, bears coming out of hibernation in spring, and a variety of other wildlife.
With a few cameras still waiting for us in the mountains, we expect to see wolverines in at least a few of the photos. This will add to the 20 locations we have documented thus far in Idaho from the four-state camera survey. Results from all four states will be merged later this year for a big picture of wolverine distribution across Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Washington.
