Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 28/04) - Unlike other regions in the world, wolverines are alive and well in the North, but we need to better understand human impact on their environment to make sure that doesn't change, says a Northern biologist.

A wolverine goes for a snack, but triggers the infrared sensor cameras set up by Robert Mulders and his team. - photo courtesy of Robert Mulders

"We're worried about increasing levels of human activity in a pristine environment that displaces wolverines," says Robert Mulders, a carnivore biologist with RWED.

The wolverine is endangered in areas such as Quebec and Eastern Canada. Weighing 20 to 30 lb., the wolverine can take down a caribou weighing up to 150lb.

The wolverine is very evasive, Mulders said. With few studies done, it is difficult to learn first-hand about the animal.

Through collecting wolverine hair, then testing it for DNA, Mulders has been working to better understand the movements of these animals throughout the Barrens region of the High Arctic.

The carnivore biologist, just returned from the field on May 10, gave a presentation of his results and methodology for snagging wolverine hair, Thursday, May 20, at the library meeting room.

Mulders began collecting information through collars placed directly on the wolverines, but the animals would break the collars.

Follow the snow track

Diavik and BHP had also been trying to determine the paths of wolverines by studying snow tracks.

"But it was hard to tell exactly how many wolverines were using the area," Mulders said.

So Mulders and his team developed what they thought would prove to be a more accurate way of documenting the path of the animals to help determine the impact that human activity is having on the species. During a pilot project conducted last year out of a Daring Lake camp, the team tried barbed posts, buckets and cylinders with a small piece of caribou meat attached to attract the wolverines. The devices were then placed a kilometre apart over a 1,500 sq. km area.

Set up over the course of a week, the posts were picked up 13.8 days later.

The posts proved to be most effective, with 39 of 40 stations set up showing hair samples.

"As they shimmied up the post, they were leaving more hair," Mulders said.

The hair samples were collected and kept in separate envelopes.

But the $70 a sample price for DNA processing meant only one sample could be processed per station.

The 2003 samples showed 12 males and eight females, along with the hair of 19 other species, including Arctic fox and wolves.

Smile for the camera

But while it was nice to have the data, Mulders thought that for the 2004 expedition it would be nicer to see the animals. "We set up cameras to see whether we could catch a wolverine climbing up one of these posts. I knew they were up there, I just wanted to see them in a picture," Mulders said.

But not all the animals were happy about having their picture taken. One of the posts holding a camera was ruined. "The whole thing was dug out and dragged off," Mulders said.

The results from the camera tied to an infrared motion sensor were amazing, he said. The pictures could also be used as a selling tool if and when approaching industry with their findings, Mulders said.

This year between March 20 and May 10, Mulders and his team expanded the area studied to 2,500 sq. km. Three-hundred posts were used during four, 10-day sessions.

By the end of the 40 days, wolverine hair had been found on 94 per cent of the last batch of posts.

Humans encroach on habitat

By next winter, Mulders is hoping to have the mining industry using his team's methods as a standard way to index the abundance of the wolverine population.

Human activities such as mining and linear developments such as roads are beginning to encroach on the natural environment and movement of the wolverine, Mulders said.

"We really have to realize that our human scent is a powerful attraction. We could learn from our mistakes, but I don't think we will," Mulders said.

Larger mining companies seem willing to invest in equipment such as garbage incinerators to ensure that wolverines are not unnaturally drawn to their camps, Mulders said.

What he worries about is the dozens of junior companies unable to afford the same kind of equipment that might trek up North during a mining boom.

The 50-person audience was clearly engaged as the conclusion of the show brought over a half hour of questions.

Many people stayed after the event, hosted by Ecology North, to talk with Mulders about his work.

"That was pulitzer prize-winning stuff," said Yellowknife author Jamie Bastedo to Mulders, on his way out the door.