Mules Ear Rides the Ridge

The dry hillsides of the rolling Boise Front Range, exploded into color this week. The Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) are flowering in profusion, especially at the lower elevations on south facing slopes. Balsamroot are also known by the common name of Mules Ear, which is a reference to the arrow shaped leaves that get up to 6 inches long, and are covered with a dense mat of silver-gray hairs. These plants get up to 2 feet tall and the flowers are as large as 4 inches across, making for a very showy array on the mountain sides. They usually start to flower in late April, so they are very much on schedule this year, even though we have had a very dry spring. Bighorn sheep sheep are lambing at the same time as the Mules Ear is flowering. The tender sprouts, large roots and seeds are edible and were harvested by American Indians. The flowers and sprouts are also a favorite food of elk, deer and bighorn sheep. Once I see the Balsamroot in flower I know the hotter weather of summer will soon follow, even though snow is still a possibility. The fickle days of spring in the Rockies.

Recent Legislation on Idaho Wolves

Recent legislation was introduced, in the Idaho State Legislature, to allow relatives of victims killed by wolves, to sue the Federal Government for damages. This proposed legislation would also make it a felony for folks to protect a killer wolf , punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $ 50,000 dollar fine. The sponsor of the legislation goes on to say that the Federal Government introduced the wolves into Idaho in the 1990's, knowing they were dangerous, and that the Feds should be held responsible.

There are several issues and concerns I have over this proposed legislation. Wolves have always been present in Idaho and there was a small population of wolves, before reintroduction in 1995. It's impossible or impractical to distinguish between introduced wolves and ones that were native.

The big issue seems to be that wolves are very dangerous animals. There have been wolf attacks in North America but they are very rare, but that really isn't the point. A wolf is a wild animal and like every other wild animal they can be dangerous. There is little to fear from wolves; they are dangerous but no more so than a bear, a falling tree, a rolling rock, a flash flood or a drunken motorist careening down a mountain road. You have to take precautions in the mountains in any regards. Statistics from the National Parks show that the vast majority of fatalities in parks are from vehicle accidents (boats, planes and cars) or folks falling off cliffs or drowning. Fatalities from wild animals, hardly make a blip in the statistics.

In the 1980's and 1990's in the United States, domestic dogs were responsible for an average of 17 fatalities per year and by the 2000's this number jumped to 26. You are probably safer hiking in the mountains, than taking a walk in your neighborhood. However it's not fair to compare numbers of wolf attacks, to numbers to domestic dog attacks, because there is a huge difference in the numbers of these animals. There have been documented cases of deer killing and injuring people, but does that make deer, a dangerous and vicious animal? The point is you have to keep things in perspective.

Does the Federal Government have to provide for our full protection when we are recreating in a National Forest or Park? If I lose my hunting rifle or a porcupine eats my boots, while I am camping on Federal Lands, am I due compensation? Do you want a ranger behind every tree to protect us from the multitude of dangers in the woods? I surely hope not. In the mountains and wild lands, we can escape civilization (at least for a short time) and don't have to worry about people looking over our shoulders, and we can get away from the everyday commotions. Part of the mystique of camping and hiking and exploring, is knowing we are in wild country, that there are dangers, but we can take care of ourselves.

Return from the Potato Mountain Fire

August 30, 2006

In August I was assigned to the Potato Mountain Fire on the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, in Idaho. It turned out to be a two week assignment as the fire was extremely active. I spend most of my time on the south end above the West Fork of the Yankee Fork. It is beautiful steep and rugged country with clear running mountain streams, and high peaks.

There have been some large fires that burned just to the south of the Potato Mountain Fire in 2000 and 1985, and parts of the fire burned into those areas. The fire spread was blunted once it reached the old burns due to the lack of fuel but there was some spread in the logs. The old fire areas are healed over and covered with a dense matt of grass and forbs. In the 1985 burn the trees are starting to come back and I saw quite a few lodgepole pine and subalpine fir saplings about 3 to 6 feet tall. There are scattered stands of mature trees that did survive the 1985 and 2000 burns.

I am not sure what the impact will be, having some many fires, the last 20 years in this country. I saw an abundance of mule deer in the burned areas and a plethoria of blue birds and grouse. There are many snags still standing in some areas which surely will benifit cavity nesting birds.

The Potato Mtn. fire burned with high intensity in some areas killing most of the mature trees but other areas burned with low intensity, and many of the mature trees, especially Douglas Fir, survivied in those areas. I saw mule deer every day and most of the does had fawns and I saw twins on several occasions. One doe in particular had three fawns! The firelines that were constructed by the fire crews became instant game trails and I was seeing fresh tracks overnight and sometimes in just a few hours.

I ran into a biologist from the Idaho Fish and Game Department one afternoon and he had a Chinook Salmon he wanted to turn loose in one of the creeks. It was a female and she had mistakenly run up the East Fork of the Salmon River instead of the Yankee Fork and she was captured in one of their traps. The biologist had the Chinook Salmon in a large cooler filled with water. He took a large vinyl sleeve or sock and scooted her into that then we carried her up one of the streams and I helped turn her loose. It was a great feeling to see that Chinook set free and return to the wild to spawn. The Fish and Game Biologist told me that the salmon returns have been quite minimal and its a struggal for them to survive even once they enter their "home" streams.

There are wolf packs in this area but I saw no sign of them. I checked the fresh dirt on the firelines I walked every day but never saw any of their tracks. Perhaps all the activity on the fire from aircraft flying scared them off; a habit I hope they keep up for their own good. I saw one large herd of elk along one of the creeks but it was hard to get an accurate count because they were in the thick timber and I was a a few hundred yards away. There was at least 40 of them. The deer seem to be very abundant in this region and doing quite well. The wolves will continue to cull the deer and elk herds increasing the overall health of these animals; nature working at its best.