Wildlife
By Bryce Nielson
Summer is just ramping up and and there is a lot of
“wildlife” taking place around Bear Lake.
That is not what I want to talk about, however.
Long before the tourists came to Bear Lake the valley was
teaming with a wide diversity of wildlife. The Shoshoni Indians summered in this valley
for 1000’s of years and lived off its wildlife.
The mountain men trapped and traded here in the 1830’s but did not
impact the wildlife, with the exception of beavers, very much. The movement of pioneers and settlers then
flooded in and most wildlife species were over harvested or replaced with
livestock. In the early 1900’s, the hills around Bear
Lake had been overgrazed and denuded of vegetation which was replaced by
dust. Countless numbers of birds and other
species were impacted. The buffalo, elk,
moose and deer were almost gone along with the bears, which were initially the
reason the lake was named “Black Bear Lake”.
The black bears are gone, so now it is called Bear Lake. Then came the 10-40 era in the 1960’s when
the mountain lions, coyotes, eagles, badgers and hawks were randomly poisoned
because of their perceived impact to livestock.
It painted a sad picture. Where
are we at now with the wildlife? I want
to relate a couple of recent stories to you.
The wildlife and humans are now living with each other. Apparently summer home subdivisions as they
mature with vegetation make perfect wildlife habitat. When I first came in the 1970’s, seeing a
moose was a big deal. Not anymore. People love them and don’t need to shoot
them. Carolyn and Marv Bywater live in a
secluded, small and old group of houses up Swan Creek Canyon next to the
boiling stream after it leaves Swan Spring.
Over the years they have had many interactions with wildlife. The last couple of weeks have been unique.
In the middle of the night recently, they heard something
“thump” on their deck. Later, the next
day, Carolyn heard a funny, bawling sound coming from under the deck. She investigated and saw a tan, baby moose
caught up under the framework, unable to turn around. Carolyn, who is a spry, 83 year old gal,
decided to do something about it, instead of just calling someone else on the
phone. Her neighbor, Pat Nickerson came
over and Carolyn crawled under the deck to the two foot space where the calf
was and tied a rope on its back legs.
Since she couldn’t move. Pat grabbed Carolyn by the ankles and started
to drag the whole works out. The moose
broke free just as they got it out, went to the stream for a drink and drifted
off into the trees. I asked Carolyn if
she was afraid of the moose stomping her and Pat to death, which is typically
the scenario when somebody bothers a moose calf and she said “maybe a little”
and then dismissed it. Later she saw a
cow with twins which was probably her saving grace.
If that wasn’t enough, a week later, after a bunch of
friends had just left, Carolyn and Marv were sitting in their chairs when Zoie,
their little dog, started barking and headed to the back, screen door. Much to their surprise, on the other side of
the screen was a cinnamon colored bear looking at them. No one thought about taking a picture, but I
believe it because Carolyn does not lie.
The little dog startled the bear, which bolted around and headed up past
their garage to the south. They had
never seen a bear there before. I can’t
believe how lucky they were to see one.
Black bears are really not dangerous to humans and prefer to flee if
possible. Talk about living in harmony
with the wildlife.
There are still bears, for sure, around Bear Lake and in a
future column I will talk about them and the changing wildlife populations as
they adapt to us humans, invading their habitat for a “good view of the Lake”.
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