Carnivores

Today was by FAR the coolest day of class we've had yet. We're still up in the North Cascades, and we were able to accompany the North Cascades National Park biologist, Roger, on a trap setting mission. The goal of this trap setting mission was to capture fur from the Pine Marten that would ultimately be used to identify it's DNA string. By doing this, the Park (and other partners) can see if pine martens from both the North and South side of Highway 20 are intermingling or not. If they are not intermingling, then it becomes an issue with in-breeding and etc. This project is part of a larger project reviewing the migratory corridor that stretches from I-90 all the way through highway 2 and north to the Canadian border over highway 20.

So, we were literally nailing chicken to a tree with nails to capture the fur over a 1500 meter area in the North Cascades. This also meant we were able to abandon all leave no trace principals and got to bushwhack EVERYWHERE. it was pretty freaking great.

Here's a photo of the little guy we were trapping:

and here are some photos from the day:

Following Roger through the woods. We had to place each trap 500 meters from the last trap, and at least 100 meters from the trail.

I was in charge of the GPS, and then collecting the data and coordinates for each trap we set.

Roger nailing a chicken leg to the tree to entice the Pine Marten.

Teresa & Kate assisting Roger with putting the hood up over the chicken leg, and then smothering the trap with skunk & marten gland liquid. It smelled horrible.