Wolverine Hit By A Vehicle Near Bear Lake

Contributed by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

LAKETOWN — Even though it was hit and killed by a vehicle, the fact a wolverine was in northern Utah is exciting to staff with the Division of Wildlife Resources.

This wolverine was hit and killed by a vehicle in Rich County recently.  In 2014, photos of a wolverine in the Uinta Mountains were captured by biologists using a trail camera.

"This wolverine was not transplanted to Utah," says DWR Director Greg Sheehan. "It made its way here on its own. It's amazing to see the diversity of wildlife we have in Utah expand even more. Particularly, such a charismatic and mythical species as the wolverine."

DWR biologists and officers learned about the wolverine on June 29. That's when an employee with the Utah Department of Transportation called a DWR conservation officer to report finding a dead wolverine that had been hit by a vehicle.

Sheehan says the wolverine was found about one mile west of Laketown, near Bear Lake in Rich County. "It was a young female," he says. "There's no evidence that the wolverine had been reproducing."

A necropsy is being performed on the animal, to learn more about it and confirm the cause of death.

Wolverines — found historically in high mountain areas — are rare in Utah today. The last time a wolverine carcass was found in Utah was in 1979, when a wolverine was hit and killed by a vehicle on U.S. Highway 40 east of Vernal.

The most recent confirmed sighting of a wolverine in Utah happened in February 2014, when a wolverine was caught on camera at a camera bait station in the Uinta Mountains.

Leslie McFarlane, mammals coordinator for the DWR, says there have been multiple unconfirmed sightings of wolverines in Utah in recent years.

"We don't know how many wolverines live in Utah," McFarlane says, "or if they're living here at all. They're elusive, have a wide distribution range and can travel long distances. A wolverine's territory can be as large as 350 square miles. They tend to move large distances within that territory."

McFarlane says about 250 to 300 wolverines live in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. They're also found in the North Cascades in Washington.

McFarlane says it's likely that the wolverine killed on June 29 was wandering through the state. "To prove that wolverines are established in Utah," she says, "we would have to have multiple sightings over a short period of time and in one particular area."

Wolverines are not currently listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. However, in Utah, they are fully protected by state law.

Bear Lake Valley Craft Fair Vendors: Raspberry Days

Sandi Gunderson Warner, Contributor

Rich Civic Times

Many of you may remember Don't Blink, the gift shop in Bloomington next to the post office.  The proprietor was Trish Carlin.  Unfortunately, it is no longer there but that hasn't stopped Trish from continuing her passion for creating.  That's probably because she was born with a creative spirit and has been making crafts since the age of 5.

She has many talents but her main interests are designing beads for the jewelry she makes and producing her signature 100% natural lip balms and body butters.  In fact, she can put any logo you desire on her handmade lotions, balms, butters, and candles. She also loves to draw people and animals and will draw anything you request.  Manipulating extremely old and weathered barbed wire into designs – especially flowers (see picture) and making things out of wood such as signs, furniture, and anything else she can think of are also favorite crafts.  She says she has perfected so many crafts that she doesn't have time to do them all but custom requests are welcome.   She has also received many 1^st place ribbons and awards for her various works of art. 

So be sure to stop by and see all the goodies Trish is currently hard at work creating for the Bear Lake Valley Craft Fair during Raspberry Days, Aug. 4-6.  You'll find them and many other talented local crafters in the Lakeside Bldg north of the library in the Garden City Complex on 300 West.

The Unmuddled Mathematician

Gifts Without Price

By Chris Coray, The Unmuddled Mathmatician

This is a story about four lucky guys.  None is a spring chicken.  A month ago the four of us were invited by a man, all of us very hold dear, to go fishing with him.  Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?  Well, it isn’t.  This was a trip that rekindled old acquaintances, made new ones, and needs to be recorded.  The story will probably mean more to the descendants of the originator than to those of us who experienced the event.

All told we were 5 in number.  Mike, Michael, James, me, and the guy who invited us.  The four of us were each invited individually by our buddy to fish Yellowstone Lake earlier this month.  Our host would provide housing in a building (he calls it a cabin, which it is not—a lodge full of mysteries is a better description) so lovely that it takes a lot more than two days to begin to appreciate it.  Further, our host would provide the boat, all fishing tackle, his experience of many trips on the lake, and most of all, the affection he has for each of us, given freely and over long periods of time.  

And we know of his affection.  He demonstrates it always and also clearly tells us.  He is just an extraordinary man who has literally saved the lives of some of us.  He has no guile, a great sense of humor, especially when laughing at himself, and would do anything to avoid disappointing any of his friends.  There are some obstacles to be overcome here.  First, as his friends we have a fair share of warts, peccadilloes, egos, and vast overestimates of our accomplishments and skill sets.  Next, he has severe peripheral neuropathy in his feet that has caused him so much pain that there have been many periods when he could not walk.  His 34^th (actual) legitimate and substantive medical effort to relieve the pain means that he now carries around in his fanny a small electronic device that has wires planted right into his spine.  The device sends signals that block the pain from getting to his brain.  Pretend that you have put an IPhone 4 in your rear pocket.  Now check the pocket.  It’s empty.  When you finally get down to the skin there is the outline of the surgically embedded control device. 

 I have never heard him complain once about the hand he has been dealt (the medical hand).  He has been known to complain about the cards he has been dealt in Canasta, but only accompanied by laughter.

So he has lived his entire life giving to others.  On this trip all we had to do was bring a little food for our meals and get a fishing license.  The four of us drove up together on Monday and met him at his magnificent place.  We made the evening meal, told the usual number of lies to each other, and as some of us were previously unacquainted, got to know each other.  Read The Old Man and Boy by Robert Ruark.  The next morning we connected his boat to his trailer, made the 3 hour trip to the lake in his truck and went fishing, using his equipment.  

But this was not fishing, it was catching. Our host handled the boat.  He did not fish until the last 5 minutes.  We caught so many cutthroat and lake trout that doubles and triples were too common to count.  There was some effort to keep track of how many fish we caught in 5 hours but it was a silly and futile effort.  Everybody gave up when we got past 50.  Can fishing get too good?  Well, we pushed that question to the edge.   Lake trout caught in Yellowstone Lake must be killed (no limit) by law so there was also a lot of fish cleaning that got done.  All the cutthroats are still in the lake.  In the last 5 minutes of the fishing we finally got him to use a rod and catch a fish.  All the rest of the time he spent taking care of us.

We got back to the “cabin” after 10 p.m., made an excellent meal, and rehydrated on apple juice brought by James.  It is the best apple juice I have ever had and after a day on the water in bright sun all of us were in need of more liquid than we would have thought. 

During all of this experience we shared stories from our lives, some of them even true.  But subconsciously for me and I am certain for the other 3 guests as well, we were all giving internal thanks for our experiences with the host, his gift of this trip to us; the admiration, affection and gratitude we have for him, and how lucky we have been.  A nights rest and a great breakfast on Wednesday allowed for memories to become more defined and fixed.  They will not fade, even as we do. 

It matters not who you are or what your life has been.  You cannot have a better friend who has given more than ours.  There is no metric to use in this kind of statement, yet it is true and we have a treasure stored up for all of our lives.

“Lost Boats on Bear Lake” Exercise

Bryce Nielson, Contributor

Rich Civic Times

As the Rich County Emergency Manager, it is my responsibility coordinate emergency responses in Rich County.  Since Bear Lake is split between Idaho and Utah, it is imperative that we have meaningful communication and exercise lake scenarios together.  This became blatantly clear to emergency responders last year with the tragic drowning event.

Alan Eborn, Bear Lake County Emergency Manager and myself have discussed doing joint exercises on the Lake.  Eldon Kearl, Fish Haven, who is an Amateur Radio operator and member of the Bear Lake Valley Club wanted to be more involved in communications in the event of an emergency.  Eldon has worked extensively building a Communication Trailer, at his own expense, that now provides both counties with the ability to communicate effectively using many platforms.

Discussions and planning focused around utilizing Ham’s in the club to become “spotters and communicators” that could be deployed to different vantage points around the lake in the event of an emergency boat rescue.  An exercise was scheduled for June 25, 2016.  The exercise was planned with a number of players.  Rich and Bear Lake county EM’s, Sheriff’s, and Search and Rescue.  Members of the Bear Lake Valley Amateur Radio Club (which had the most participants), US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Garden City Fire District and Idaho State Parks participated.  Utah State Parks did not want to be involved since they were too busy on that Saturday.  

We all convened and broke up into groups Saturday and were give maps/views of four spotter points around the lake.  All communication was done over amateur radio so we didn’t interfere with law enforcement communications.  We had one private boat go out on the lake from the marina and “get lost”.  A PWC with dummies (people in the water) was deployed from North Beach.  The Idaho State Parks, USCG, and GCFD boats were sent out at the same time.

The exercise started fine, but then an actual emergency of a boat in distress occurred off North Beach and the exercise stopped until that was taken care of.  After a couple of hours and lots of looking through binoculars and spotting scopes, the watercraft were finally located, contacted and the exercise terminated.

The participants then met in Fish Haven for a Hot Wash (review of the exercise and lessons learned).  Observers were surprised how difficult it could be locating watercraft on Bear Lake on a perfect day.  Things like boat descriptions and colors varied, viewing was hampered by sun angle, evaporation and mirages, communication was good but certainly could be improved and keeping track of rescue boats by personnel on shore was tough.  Many other things were discussed and personal experiences were recounted.

The exercise was a success and now both states, USCG and amateur radio operators can work better together in the event of an emergency that we hope never happens.