Volunteering with the FSPW Wolverine Project takes many forms. Some of our volunteers commit to becoming Monitoring Station Leaders and spend several days over the course of the season visiting backcountry camera stations. Others have more limited schedules, but still enjoy a fun and educational trek into the backcountry when they have the opportunity to assist our station leaders. Volunteers also work in our office in Sandpoint, ID, where they sort through wildlife camera photos and enter data collected from our monitoring stations.

In late December, Monitoring Station Leaders begin to set up camera stations throughout our study area in places that are likely to see animal activity over the winter. Generally, leaders adopt one or two camera stations for the duration of the field season, checking them every 2-3 weeks and then taking them down in early spring.

The Intern Returns to Volunteer to Earn a Hat!

This season, FSPW volunteers are taking the lead on just over 40 camera stations in the Idaho Panhandle and western Montana. These camera stations consist of several important parts. First, a bait, generally a skinned beaver, is wired snuggly to a tree to attract scavenging critters. Next, a series of gun brushes are attached to the tree below the bait. These gun brushes, with their gripping bristles, encircle the tree trunk and collect hair samples from creatures that climb over them to reach th e bait. The last part of the station is the motion activated wildlife camera, The wildlife camera is installed on a nearby tree to digitally capture any activity that occurs at the station, and if we’re lucky, it will show us pictures of those mysterious mustelids we call wolverines!

After the initial set-up of their station, leaders will return every 3 weeks or so with a fresh bait, a new SD card for the wildlife camera, and replacement gun brushes. The old SD card and any gun brushes that have snagged hair samples from visiting critters are collected from the station and returned to our office. The hair samples are then sent off by IDFG for DNA analysis. This genetic information helps the biologists at IDFG build a database of forest carnivore populations in the region. Pictures stored on the SD cards are sorted by our volunteers, who patiently scan the photos for shots of wolverine, fisher, marten, Canada lynx, and other animals.

If you want to volunteer, but don’t want to take the lead on a station, there are always opportunities to partner with our station leaders and get into the backcountry as your schedule permits. There are also opportunities to assist the Friends with other project needs throughout the season, such as perusing photos of wolverines from the bait station cameras! However you decide to help, involving yourself in the Wolverine Project this winter gives you the chance to be a part of a truly amazing citizen scientist initiative here in the Idaho Panhandle.

If you want to volunteer, you can start the process by completing a short survey.

Download the Wolverine Volunteer Survey Here

We are asking

volunteers to complete this survey. This is essential to us matching up your interests, geographical knowledge, experience and skills with a station, or task that is suitable for you.  Download the survey and fill it out.

Then e-mail to: mustelids@scotchmanpeaks.org

Or print and mail to Wolverine Survey, P.O. Box 2061. Sandpoint, ID 83864.

For more information on the rare forest carnivore study and other FSPW news, please visit our website at http://www.scotchmanpeaks.org/.

For specific questions about volunteering with the Wolverine Project, please contact our project coordinator, Kelsey Brasseur, at:  mustelids@scotchmanpeaks.org.