| Previous To Project HOWL: Wolf Packs
In The Thompson River/Fishtrap Area |
| 1. |
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The Thompson River pack. |
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The collared alpha female from the Murphy Lake pack traveled south
and began the Thompson River pack in 1995. |
| 2. |
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In 1998, the Thompson River pack was apparently shot by local residents. |
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The collared alpha female of this pack was the only known survivor. |
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U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists set trap lines to
capture and relocate the alpha female but she was never found. |
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The wolf classes I was teaching at the time for San Francisco
State University were asked by these biologists to survey and attempt to locate the other pack
members, but none were found. |
| 3. |
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The Fishtrap pack. |
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In January 2001, the next wolf pack in this area killed a local resident's
llama. |
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January 2001 is when Wolf & Wildlife Studies began studying this
pack, via Project HOWL. |
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The pack killed another llama of the same local resident in February
2001. |
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| Summary Of Results - 2001 |
| 1. |
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Winter. |
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Found several kill sites consisting of deer and elk. |
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Found several routes the wolves used to access the local area. |
| 2. |
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Spring. |
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Using howling surveys it was determined the pack had pups. |
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Found additional travel routes used by the pack. |
| 3. |
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Summer. |
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Found two of the pack's rendezvous sites. |
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Monitored the pack's behavior at the rendezvous sites using howling
surveys and surveillance (acoustic). For example, the
pups of that year were often split into two groups, each having adults,
and their vocal interactions were tape recorded and their locations plotted. |
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An opportunistic sighting of the wolves was made by students of the
wolf survey class. The pack was laying in the road while the pups
played. |
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This observation, along with other collected data, determined that
there were 8 members in the pack: 4 adults and 4 pups. |
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Found a dead pup that was shot and laying in a ditch next to the road.
The pack, therefore, had a litter of at least 5 pups. The dead pup
was female and approximately 4 months old. It was found 2 miles from
the current rendezvous site at that time. |
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| Summary Of Results - 2002 |
| 1. |
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Winter |
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The pack apparently split into two groups which coincided with the
death of a collared male. I could consistently track both groups. |
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Non-collared group: This group contained an adult with forepaws
over 5” in length, and was found consistently in the western portion of
the pack's known territory. |
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Collared group: This group contained the collared female and
four other black wolves and was found consistently by the USFWS to be further
east of the non-collared group. |
| 2. |
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Summer. |
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Using howling surveys it was determined the pack had pups. |
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Both groups of the Fishtrap pack were found and tracked. |
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Collected additional data regarding the territorial boundary of the
pack and more travel routes within their territory, including a travel
route through the Cabinet Mountains. |
| 3. |
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Fall. |
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No longer saw the prints of the large footed wolf. Speculated
that the large footed wolf's branch of the Fishtrap pack became members
or formed the Green Mountain pack on the western side of the Cabinets. |
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The collared group began crossing the Cabinet Mountains to the Noxon
area periodically as found by the USFWS. Speculated that they were
visiting the other branch of the Fishtrap pack. See Territory Map. |
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| Summary Of Results - 2003 |
| 1. |
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Winter. |
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A large footed wolf was killed on Hwy 56 near Bull Lake. |
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The Green Mountain pack disbanded shortly after this wolf was killed. |
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Consequently, the wolves in the collared group were the only members
of the Fishtrap pack; and their trips across the Cabinet Mountains stopped. |
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Found the pack's den site and the pups for that year. |
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USFWS biologists had been looking for the pack's den site for several years. As a "reward" for finding it and documenting other pack behaviors, I was given temporary use of the telemetry equipment by the USFWS so that
I could monitor the pack more closely. (The equipment was recalled soon thereafter and I purchased my own). Two adults members of the Fishtrap pack were radio
collared at that time. |
| 2. |
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Summer. |
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Monitored the vocalizations between the adults and pups. |
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Documented each rendezvous site that was used by the pack and documented
how the adults split the pups into two groups for “training” at these sites. |
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I was able to video tape the pups and two adults at one of their rendezvous
sites, by sitting on the side of a mountain half a mile away. |
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Verified that there were 7 pups, 6 black and 1 gray, and that the Fishtrap
pack consisted of 12 members. |
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Found additional travel routes. |
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Documented the pack's stay on the land of a local ranch. This
was during calving and the pack kept their pups in the same field as the
calving cows for one week. Each night the two collared adults would
leave and then return by morning, presumably to hunt. No depredations
or harassment of the cattle by the wolves occurred during this time. |
| 3. |
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Fall. |
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Documented when the pack became nomadic. |
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Documented the precise movements of the pack within their territory.
For example, the travel routes appear to be mostly the same from year to
year but their destinations often change. The western edge of the pack's
territory also changes from year to year. |
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Documented how far these wolves travel per day. |
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Documented how the collared wolves interacted and who "hung out with whom." |
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Began building a list of vocalizations produced by the adults and pups. |
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| Summary Of Results - 2004 |
| 1. |
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Winter. |
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Continued to document the seasonal shifts in pack movement within their territory.
So far it has been different each year, at least in terms of how long they
spend in a particular area. |
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Found additional travel routes. |
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A non-collared female pup from the 2003 litter was hit and killed by a vehicle. |
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Produced a CD of the Fishtrap pack's vocalizations. |
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An additional wolf was radio collared by the USFWS - a pup from the 2003 litter. |
| 2. |
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Spring. |
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Documented how individual pack members traveled long distance.
For example, the travel routes I had found in the past only linked one drainage
system with another. Now I could document how these routes were linked
together for travel from one side of the wolves’ territory to the other. |
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Closely monitored the den site and which collared wolves were coming
and going. For example, none of the three collared wolves appeared
to be parents to the pups. Instead, their roles were supportive, and
they left and returned to the den on a regular basis. |
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Was now able to produce a detailed map of the Fishtrap pack's current territory. |
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Was informed by the Department of Transportation that apparently two
more pups from the 2003 litter were killed by vehicles. |
| 3. |
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Summer. |
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Closely monitored the pack's rendezvous sites and which collared wolves
were coming and going. For example, the collared adult male was the
collared wolf usually gone the longest, and went the farthest away
from the rendezvous sites. The collared adult female left as well but
did not go as far as the male. Of the three collared wolves, the pup traveled the least and stayed mostly at the rendezvous sites. |
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| Summary Of Results - 2005 |
| 1. |
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Note: |
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Project HOWL has now gotten so extensive that it has become impractical to list out all the activities and accomplishments by season. Instead, they will be listed here as general categories that occur throughout the year. |
| 2. |
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The several years of telemetry and general data of the Fishtrap pack now undergoes continuous analysis, both for how the wolves use their territory over a long period of time (i.e., years), and how the collared wolves "pair up" throughout the year. |
| 3. |
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All this data has lead to new discoveries about wolves in general and how a wolf pack, at least the Fishtrap pack, is structured throughout the year. Consequently, 2005 has been about data analysis and the beginning of writing several manuscripts about the Fishtrap pack, to be published in scientific journals. |
| 4. |
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This information has important implications regarding wolf management, and public use of the forests in which wolves live. |
| 5. |
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Daily surveys for the wolves continue. |
| 6. |
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Documented in the spring that there were 9 members of the Fishtrap pack. |
| 7. |
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Implemented a program of working closely with several ranches to help reduce or prevent human-wolf conflicts. Like the wolf research, this is an ongoing process which so far has worked extremely well. So daily surveys continue to be an important process in collecting data as well as creating open communication between myself, ranchers, and the surrounding community. |
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| For current and comprehensive results of Project HOWL, click here |
