Today we put the equipment shed (fish house) on location 70-100 yards from Lily and Hope’s den. Good weather helped. The 15 inches of snow on the ground from recent storms didn’t. Five of us put in a good day. The pictures tell the story. We used 2 trucks, a snowmobile, 2 trailers and 5 people to begin getting equipment on site. We snowmobiled the disassembled shed to the opening near the den, set it up, brought in a fuel tank, and tested for cell phone signal strength.
The pictures show the shed on the trailer behind the snowmobile, the shed going up, Sue carrying a cross for mounting a camera outside the den, and Jason Sawyer, Jim Stroner, and Sue Mansfield testing cell phone coverage at the end of the day. Charlie Meyer is in some of the pictures, and Lynn is the one in the orange jacket.
We worried how the bears might react to the noise, but we think everything is okay. Lily’s signal showed activity before we snowmobiled in. Maybe she was rearranging bedding in the den. The signal sounded like everything was calm when we left after dark.
Meanwhile, more of your goodies arrived at the Bear Center yesterday, we learned, and they got there in time for the people working on the new door to join in. Thank you.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center