For now, this will have to do. It will likely be a while yet before Meeteetse can lay claim as home of the black-footed ferret – not in a historical sense, rather in the present and current circumstance.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Ferret Memorial
For now, this will have to do. It will likely be a while yet before Meeteetse can lay claim as home of the black-footed ferret – not in a historical sense, rather in the present and current circumstance.
White-tailed PD (sorry no close-ups!)
White-tailed PDs have a distinct black marking outlining their eyes, and they are nowhere near as noisy as their black-tailed cousins. They communicate with sounds that are remarkably similar to the cicak!
Views on a Transect Break
13 km was my personal record, through Erin held the group record of 14.5 km
Dueling Transects
And since we were in the wild west – home of Buffalo Bill and Butch Cassidy no less – there was also the occasional dueling transect!
Lay of the Land
From Paradise to Graveyard, Gould’s Place and Long Hollow, each colony had its own characteristics. Some were filled with sagebrush and cactus, others with gullies, buttes and deep ravines, or corrals and barbed wire fencing
Two Weeks in Meeteetse, Wyoming
Meeteetse is hallowed ground when it comes to the story of the black-footed ferret. It was thought to be extinct until one fine autumn day in 1981, when a dog named Shep killed a critter near his food bowl at the Hogg ranch. John Hogg didn’t think anything of it, and threw the carcass over the fence. Fortunately, John mentioned it to his wife Lucille, who salvaged it and brought it to the town taxidermist, who promptly identified it to be a black-footed ferret. Thus the story began…
This last wild population of 129 ferrets was reduced to a mere 18 by 1987, having been virtually wiped out by plague, and possibly some canine distemper. The ferrets alive today can be genetically traced to this original 18, including the rather virile Scarface, who almost single-handedly populated the captive breeding program.
So when word came that USGS biologist Dean was looking for two volunteers from the Conata Basin crew to work with him for a couple of weeks in Meeteetse, I jumped at the chance.
The project: examine the long-term effect of plague on white-tailed prairie dog colonies in Meeteetse, by measuring burrow density and activity. The data might also be used to evaluate prairie dog habitat for ferret re-introduction. All this sounds a lot more complicated than the actual work itself, or I should say, my contribution in data collection was pretty straightforward. My job was simply to walk in a line with a rolatape wheel and count the burrows in a 3 km wide section. If fresh scat were present, that would indicate activity and I kept a record of those numbers too.
Ultimately, there were three of us from Conata who worked the Meeteetse crew: Erin, Jordan and yours truly, plus two newbies. And for one week during that time, we were treated to the grand company of Geri and Lou. Geri worked with the Conata field crew back in 1999, so we traded tales and battle scars about working in Interior, South Dakota. In fact, it was the two notorious driving “incidents” during the ‘99 field season that led to the compulsory four-hour defensive driving course that my field crew had to painfully endure. Lou was among the core team of four wildlife biologists (including Dean), who worked with the ferrets when they were re-discovered in 1981. Every time we transected a particular colony, Lou had a story, photo or a historical tidbit to add.
Along the way, we also met a rare progressive rancher, developing a doctorate syllabus about the integrated approach to wildlife management; an oil consultant convinced that his wells produce not an ounce of carbon emissions; Emily, the daughter of John and Lucille Hogg, who runs Lucille’s café in town; Scott, who is tracking 10 packs of wolves from Thermopolis (one hour south of Meeteetse) to Yellowstone; plus a group of hunters merrily shooting up one of our colonies, where they’ve hunted for the last 15 years.
This last wild population of 129 ferrets was reduced to a mere 18 by 1987, having been virtually wiped out by plague, and possibly some canine distemper. The ferrets alive today can be genetically traced to this original 18, including the rather virile Scarface, who almost single-handedly populated the captive breeding program.
So when word came that USGS biologist Dean was looking for two volunteers from the Conata Basin crew to work with him for a couple of weeks in Meeteetse, I jumped at the chance.
The project: examine the long-term effect of plague on white-tailed prairie dog colonies in Meeteetse, by measuring burrow density and activity. The data might also be used to evaluate prairie dog habitat for ferret re-introduction. All this sounds a lot more complicated than the actual work itself, or I should say, my contribution in data collection was pretty straightforward. My job was simply to walk in a line with a rolatape wheel and count the burrows in a 3 km wide section. If fresh scat were present, that would indicate activity and I kept a record of those numbers too.
Ultimately, there were three of us from Conata who worked the Meeteetse crew: Erin, Jordan and yours truly, plus two newbies. And for one week during that time, we were treated to the grand company of Geri and Lou. Geri worked with the Conata field crew back in 1999, so we traded tales and battle scars about working in Interior, South Dakota. In fact, it was the two notorious driving “incidents” during the ‘99 field season that led to the compulsory four-hour defensive driving course that my field crew had to painfully endure. Lou was among the core team of four wildlife biologists (including Dean), who worked with the ferrets when they were re-discovered in 1981. Every time we transected a particular colony, Lou had a story, photo or a historical tidbit to add.
Along the way, we also met a rare progressive rancher, developing a doctorate syllabus about the integrated approach to wildlife management; an oil consultant convinced that his wells produce not an ounce of carbon emissions; Emily, the daughter of John and Lucille Hogg, who runs Lucille’s café in town; Scott, who is tracking 10 packs of wolves from Thermopolis (one hour south of Meeteetse) to Yellowstone; plus a group of hunters merrily shooting up one of our colonies, where they’ve hunted for the last 15 years.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What is a Boot Scramble?
Gather up kids in their bare feet, race to the boot heap, put on your shoes and race back. This roadrunner shows how it's done.
Mutton Bustin’
Well, this event scores point for creativity. Basically, it’s a category for kids under 8 years, who can hang on to a sheep for six seconds. This boy had his strategy down, keeping a strangle hold round the sheep’s neck for a easy rout of his peers.
Runaway Bronc
This horse almost escaped from the ring altogether, breaking loose for a short time before the cowboys corralled it back in
My First Rodeo
What a hoot! Photos, television, books don’t do it justice. The horsemanship was admirable, the atmosphere festive, and the people in fine spirits. My trailer mates from Virginia and Missouri insist that I should drop my ‘g’s when talking rodeo, so here goes…
Monday, July 7, 2008
Celebrating July 4th at Rushmore
Vast crowds - we arrived 5 hours before the fireworks and had to park 2 miles away.
Mt. Rushmore
I found Mt. Rushmore a little creepy – four heads carved from the cliff face seemed, well, unnatural. The fireworks that were shot from the heads of these past Presidents though … now that was something else!
Water Recedes after Flash Flood
Flash Flood in the Badlands
Last week, we almost lost a truck in a flash flood. Four members of our team had to hike out when the water rose three feet in 10 minutes. I hiked back to the truck with our crew leader that afternoon, with much relief that the truck was still there, with no water damage.
My Favorite Juvie...
Catch her 2x daily, sometimes 3x ... she's my dyslexic juvie (ear tags: 5205 / 5025 had me stumped). Her other nickname is PB&J because she loves our bait, and carefully eyes us as we re-position our traps well away from her burrow.
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