March 29, 2010

Grizzly Bears Emerge From Hibernation To Roam
An Uncheckerboarded Landscape
by Adam Lieberg

The middle of March witnessed some of the first signs of grizzly bears emerging from hibernation around the valley. The mild temperatures seem to be fast forwarding the valley into an early spring.  Grass is already greening up causing deer and elk to congregate in open fields in the valley bottom.

Northwest Connections staff noticed these grizzly bear tracks in the mud on the way into work one morning.
- click on the image above to enlarge view of tracks -

A herd of elk was spotted foraging on the airstrip early one morning.

Early migratory bird species have been showing up in numbers this month--varied thrush, red-winged blackbirds, mountain bluebirds, and killdeer--just to name a few.

A film crew also arrived this month to shoot footage of various activities happening on the Montana Legacy Project (MLP) lands. This month marked a historical land transformation as former Plum Creek lands were reverted back to public ownership, erasing the “checkerboard” ownership in the valley. To learn more about this historic conservation project you can link to this page on our website http://www.northwestconnections.org/plumcreeklands.html.

The film crew caught up with Tom Parker, Erika Edgley, and Adam Lieberg to look for signs of wildlife on the MLP lands. By days end, the film crew developed an appreciation for the important wildlife values supported by this valley by tracking a variety of mammals across MLP lands including, mountain lions, wolves, and grizzly bears. One of the most interesting highlights of the day was when this group identified tracks made by a female mountain lion traveling with her 5 cubs!!

Tom Parker with film crew.
The film crew got to see a nice grizzly bear track in snow fresh from early that morning. - click on the image above to enlarge view of tracks -