Lots to cover about the ferret project, will probably take more than one post.  I'll start at the end and lead with some photos.  The black footed ferret project in Wyoming is lead by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and most of it is funded through State Wildlife Grants, with some funds coming from the Section 6 funds of the Endangered Species program through the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  https://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/subpages/grantprograms/swg/swg.htm for info on the SWG program.  We were at the Pitchfork Ranch, in Meeteetse, WY, private land that is a working ranch but where the landowners are dedicated to the ferret restoration as well.

Just a typical view at Pitchfork Ranch.

The surveys run from dusk till dawn and teams drive and walk routes through the ferret habitat (prairie dog towns) using spotlights to search for the distinctive eyeshine of the ferrets when they pop above ground.  These photos are from start time, around 7:30PM.

Takes a big crew to accomplish the surveys, and we only surveyed half the ferret survey on the ranch that night.

Beautiful start to the night.

Time to find some ferrets.

Once a ferret is located, the survey crew locates the prairie dog burrow it went into and sets a long, narrow cage trap in the burrow entrance.  They then plug all the other connected burrows so the ferret can only go out the entrance with the trap.  They go back and check the traps every 30-60 minutes and the ferrets aren't too shy about getting caught.  Sorry, I don't have photos of that process, it happens in the dark.

After a ferret is caught, it is brought back to a small trailer, set up to process the animals.  I got to spend the night with the project leader, Dana Nelson, and survey with her the area around the trailer and then watch as she handled the ferrets that came in.  It was a long night, as ferret above ground activity peaks between 1-4 AM.  We ended up with 3 ferrets to handle, 1 around midnight, the other 2 between 430-530am.

Inside the ferret processing trailer, it is about a 5 X 8 foot space.

The ferrets come in from the field in the black plastic tube, with a plug at each end.  The tube fits on a specially made anesthesia chamber.  Isoflourane, an inhaled anesthetic, is used to safely handle the ferrets.  They are moved out of the tube into the chamber.

Once in the chamber, the gas is turned on and the ferret is immobilized,usually takes 1.5-2 minutes.

Ferrets are removed from the chamber and a cone is used to complete anesthesia and facilitate handling.  The ferrets weight around 1 kg, which is smaller than their prey, the prairie dog.  They typically kill 1 prairie dog every 3 days, and get most of their water needs from the animals they kill, not by going to water sources.

Once safe to handle, ferrets are checked to see if they have an identity chip, like used on cats and dogs, with a handheld scanner. If not, each one has a chip injected just under the skin between the shoulders.  They are also vaccinated for canine distemper and sylvatic plague.  Plague is endemic in prairie dog towns and carried by fleas and a significant problem for black footed ferrets.  The vaccines are important to ensure survival of this endangered species.

Other measurements are taken while the ferret is immobilized and then they are placed in a pet carrier to recover and then for transport back to where they were captured  to be released.  The whole process in the trailer takes less than 10 minutes.  The isoflurane is quickly metabolized and quite safe to use.

 Of the 3 ferrets captured that night, at least one was a kit produced this year, documenting reproduction in this reintroduced population.  One other was one of the original animals released here in 2016.  Black footed ferrets typically live only about 3 years and that old male was showing signs of age with broken teeth.

Although the ferret is still listed as federally endangered, most of the conservation efforts in Wyoming are funded and carried out by the Wyoming Game and Fish department.  I was very impressed by the staff involved in this project and the way they worked with the landowners and other partners to carry out these surveys and the overall restoration project.  It was really special to be on the site where the species was first rediscovered in 1981 after having been considered extinct.

Because of the threat of disease, the original population of wild ferrets at Meeteetse were captured and brought into captivity to begin a captive breeding program.  Even then, it was only a known population of 18 individuals!  Of those, only 7 ferrets contributed to the original captive breeding effort.  Those 7 are the founder population of all the ferrets known today.  They have since been released in many locations throughout their historic range.  More of the story is here.

For me, this was quite an experience as the ferret was a really big topic in wildlife conservation circles when I was an undergrad in the 1980s (and still is, obviously).  The disease threat is real, and locations where they might be released are have to have adequate numbers of prairie dogs.  White-tailed prairie dogs typically occur at lower densities than black-tailed prairie dogs, so the area requirements for WT dogs are twice that of BT dogs (3000 acres vs 1500 acres).  Also, because of the plague threat, each prairie dog burrow is treated with insecticide before ferret releases and for several years thereafter!  Imagine the effort involved in walking through thousands of acres of prairie dog towns, dusting each burrow with the insecticide.

White-tailed prairie dog.  

Overall, this is quite an amazing, collaborative conservation success story.  More to come on some of the other things going on relative to ferrets, as well as other things I've done on my trip in the past 10 days.

Hi Everyone,

Today I am in Meeteetse, WY participating in some black footed ferret surveys.  We are on 2 private ranches where ferrets have been released the past few years, including the Hogg ranch which is where the species was rediscovered back in 1981 after having been thought to be extinct.  So far this morning we were out with a team using scent detection dogs to try to identify prairie dog burrows where ferrets are present.  The dogs are trained to alert their handler when they detect ferret scent and this gives the WY Game and Fish biologists target areas to sample more intensely, using remote cameras on those burrows as well as nighttime spotlight surveys.  Today was an atypical Wyoming morning as it rained overnight and there was dense fog this morning, where it is usually very dry and clear.  I have some photos that I will try to share later.

Later today we will go out and check some cameras placed at burrows earlier this week and then do a spotlight survey all night long, from dusk to dawn.  The ferrets are detected by their eyeshine when they come above ground, cage traps are set at those burrows to try to capture the ferrets so they can be identified, vaccinated against distemper and sylvatic plague, and then released.  At this site, ferrets have been released from the breeding center in 2016 and 2017, a final release is planned next week. Already reproduction has been documented here from the animals released in 2016, so it has been a success already.  More to come on this after we do the surveys tonight.

The past week has been busy, I will post photos when I get to a good internet connection later this weekend.  Lots of interesting things to report on about sage grouse, feral horses, the role of water in this landscape, and grizzly bear management.  Have had good, informative meetings with WY Game and Fish staff the past couple of days, as well as The Nature Conservancy Wyoming office staff.  All of these folks have been really generous with their time and expertise and I will share a good bit of what I learned.

And, to top off the morning there was a young bull moose right next to one of the ranch roads as we were returning to camp after the early morning detection dog session.

Some random stuff from North Dakota

Hi everyone.  I'm in Wyoming right now but wanted to share some of the photos from North Dakota before I head to central Wyoming tomorrow and will be offline for a few days.  Future posts will show a little of the energy extraction economy in this part of the west, as well as some scenes from central Wyoming sage brush habitat, pronghorns (and pronghorn hunting), sage grouse (another conservation success that is dependent on lots of cooperation among a whole range of partners), and more about black-footed ferrets.

This is the Little Missouri River in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Quite an extensive bit of erosion, forming quite a canyon.

A group of bison at a distance from the road on the left, then a solitary bison on the right.  The one on the right had been up a canyon several hours earlier when I drove in to hike at the spot above.  Driving out about 5 or 6 hours later, I looked up the canyon and he was gone, turned my head to see him right next to the road.  Bison were introduced into the park and now constitute a free-ranging herd of several hundred.  However, the park is fenced to keep them in and off the adjacent private lands.  Twenty bison were introduced into the North Unit (10M:10F) in 1962, from the population that was introduced into the South Unit in 1956 (from a herd on a National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska).  Today they try to manage the North Unit for no more than 300 animals.

Here is a view of that perimeter fence.  The South Unit, about 60 miles away, also is fenced to keep their bison and horse populations within the boundary.  Elk, pronghorn, mule deer, whitetails all should be able to pass over or through the fence.

Black-tailed prairie dog on the left, and a neat shot of 2 bison in this creek bottom as the sunset colored the hills beyond.  There are a couple of prairie dog colonies in the north Unit of the park that visitors can walk through on trails.

Some of the landscape of western North Dakota has these unique "pyramid" like features, caused by erosion.  Quite a striking landscape.

A brief update after a few days offline

Hi All,

I've spent a few days offline, camping and hiking at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota and then drove to Laramie, Wyoming on Sunday the 9th, with a side trip to Devil's Tower in ne Wyoming.  Along the way saw a lot of neat country and had some good experiences with thunderstorms, bison, prairie dogs, and long trains full of coal.  Photos and posts about that will follow later. 

Today, I visited with some folks from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wyoming Field Office in Cheyenne.  These are the folks who work on Threatened and Endangered species issues for the federal government in Wyoming.  Later, we went to the black-footed ferret conservation facility in northern Colorado and got a tour of that.  This is the spot where most of the captive breeding of the ferrets happens and they are prepared for release in the wild all over their historic range.  Here is a link to fact sheet about the species, the fact sheet has links to other good web sites to learn more about their biology, conservation, and where they can be found now in the wild and in captivity.  They also go into detail about some of the disease threats that pose problems for them.

The ferret was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered on private land in Meeteetsee, Wyoming in 1981.  The population dropped to 18 individual and subsequent genetic research has documented that the founder population of today's ferrets was only 7 breeding individuals.  This is what biologists call a population bottleneck.  So, the captive breeding that goes on carefully matches individuals to try to enhance genetic diversity.  The BFFs are dependent on prairie dogs and live in prairie dog towns. They do most of their hunting underground in the burrows and eat on average 1 prairie dog every 3 days (the dogs are about as large or even larger than the ferrets).  One interesting countermeasure the prairie dogs sometimes will try is to seal ferrets in the burrows when they know one is there, by blocking all the exit holes with dirt, as the ferrets are not as good at digging as the prairie dogs are. 

BFFs are still listed as endangered, but active management has expanded the population and their range in the wild tremendously.  Later this month I'll be going to the Meeteetsee site to do some surveys for the BFFs and will report on that.  Surveys are done at night with spotlights, the BFFs eyes shine red in the light and then biologists will set traps at the burrows to capture the ferrets so they can be handled and evaluated.  Apparently they readily go into the cage traps, we'll see.  There are also grizzly bears at that site, so it should be an exciting evening.

Because the BFFs are dependent on prairie dogs, one of the threats to the ferret is the plague that is carried by fleas in the prairie dog colonies.  Part of the release protocol for BFFs is that the prairie dog colonies are treated with insecticides to kill the fleas before the ferrets are released and for several years afterward.  Here are just a few photos from today.

After a couple of long days of driving, I made it to Dickinson, ND today.  My goal was to be Medora, a bit further west, but that is in the Bakken shale gas development area and a smaller town with fewer rooms available.  Thus, prices for those rooms are more than twice what they are here in Dickinson (supply and demand, imagine that).  So, here I am.  Tomorrow I'll drive out to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and hope to camp for a day or 2 and hike around that historic landscape. 

Around mid-day today, I began to leave the forested part of the U.S. in Minnesota and make my way into the prairies, although most of the prairies are in some form of agriculture...at least what is visible from the highway.  These shots were from the top of a highway exit on I-94 west of Fargo, ND.  Partially harvested soybean fields on the top, across the road in the bottom photo...lots of corn.  Further along the road were huge sunflower fields, sometimes on both sides of the road.  Along with them were HUGE flocks of blackbirds, swirling and landing in those sunflowers.  I couldn't safely stop to photograph those, but it was impressive and made me think of how much people spend to feed birds sunflower seeds back where we live.  Later on I ran into a thunderstorm and was able to watch the lightning as it passed in front of me and just to the south.  Quite impressive to have so much sky (and straight, flat road with little traffic) to watch that show.  Also, I somehow avoided running into a hailstorm that resulted in a lot of damage to other cars, based on talking to people checking into the hotel ahead of me and seeing their vehicles.  I had stopped to take a photo of the storm and some windmills, fortunate for me that I listened to that little voice that said to pull over and take in the scenery. 

Hopefully, the next few days I'll be out of touch but taking photos of and reflecting on the landscape and the wildlife of western North Dakota.  More later.

Windmills turning along I-94.

This thunderstorm produced some significant hail, covering the road and the ground on either side.  Fortunately, I stopped to enjoy the view and didn't run into it while driving.

First day on the road west

Hi Friends.   I made my start west this morning after finishing the last bit of packing and making it to Town Hall to vote in the primary.  After a stop in Pittsfield I really got underway about 10:30 and made it about 500 miles to Ashtabula, OH by 8PM.  Mostly drove I-90, part of which follows the Erie Canal and then dropped off the highway to follow the Lake Erie shore in NY and PA.  That was a good decision, nice to see the lake and drive mostly empty roads through the vineyards in both NY and PA.  Sorry, no pictures today.

The driving was nicely broken up by an interview with Andrea, one of The Wildlife Society's Leadership Institute members.  We discussed some of the elements of leadership in our profession as part of her assignment.  Her questions were really pretty tough, making me think about how I am going to continue to serve the profession after my term as President is over, what some of the big challenges are for wildlife conservation, and what I am going to be most proud of in my career.  It was a really good way to spend time on the highway and really good to get Andrea's take on the questions from her perspective a little bit earlier in her career than I am. 

The drive, again along the Canal, also was a good time to reflect on how much we take transportation for granted, especially personal transportation.  I drove 500 miles in less than 10 hours, amazing.  The Erie Canal was a breakthrough in transportation in the early part of the 19th century.  I'm reading a book now, The Bonanza King, about the Comstock Lode mining around Virginia City, Nevada in mid-19th century.  Part of the story touches on the completion of the transcontinental railroad and how it shortened the time to cross the continent from more than 3 weeks by boat, if you were lucky (from the east coast, to central America, then on another boat to California or vice versa) to about 8 days.  The author also touches on the completion of telegraph wires that allowed news to flow across the country in a matter of hours or a day, compared to the flow of mail by stagecoach, Pony Express, or boat.  Sitting in my truck, speed set on cruise control, listening to a podcast or satellite radio, with a cooler of soda on the floor, my adventure pales compared to routine travel not so long ago.  Still, this will be fun.