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Show Page Ai 8 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, Thursday, April 23. 1998 Biologists looking for answers to low in oose den "I've seen too many cows without calves," she said. "It Fairbanks Dairy would be nice to find out. If YUKON FLATS NATIONAL they're going to do something WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska they need to have good data on Mike Vivion heard the moose." ; Pilot Other villagers are less beeps in his headphone and banked the small Cessna enthusiastic, though. Clinton Wiehl, 77, has lived toward a stand of black spruce beside the braided Yukon River. in Beaver since 1940. He snortThe signal, received by an ed disgustedly at the plan, sugantenna on the plane's wing, gesting a natural cause for calf remained steady and strong as mortality. "There are a lot of grizzlies Vivion circled 1,000 feet above the ground. The fr6zen river around," he said, sitting high on showed lots of moose tracks, but none was fresh. "I don't see her," Vivion's partner Mark Bertram said. "She's right on the edge of that spruce," Vivion replied, pointing toward a dark object. Meanwhile, the moose's identification number flashed on the aircraft's instrument panel. Cow number 920 had been located, and Bertram logged the exact spot in his notes for future reference. Then Vivion flew upriver in search of the next telltale beep. a next to the viltracks to only see grizzlies in the hills, but now they're all over the flats Like many other vi.lagers, he objects to collaring wildlife. "They're going to leave them on there," he said, his voice rising. "If you put them on, takp them off. And if they fly down low, it scare the moose By STEVE KADEL four-wheel- er lage store. "You can see at the airstrip. You used News-Min- will be no negative effects to the cows or calves. Experienced personnel from the Moose Research Station in Kenai helped with the initial collaring, he said. Collars on the adults weigh two or three pounds. The calves will be fitted with collars Rpccifically designed to fall off in about a year. Their collar are made of soft Ace bundle. No aide efft'oU Bertram miyi, hiiwi'ver, there "' O O Q they are born each spring. They hope to collar them during the first four or five days after birth, when the animals will be easiest to work with. "It's a rodeo," Bertram said of collaring the young, wideawake calves. He and Vivion acknowledged villager concerns about the program. That's part of the reason two Yukon Flats residents who are Alaska Natives will be hired to help with the study. Get 'em young "it'll be minor an far as discomfort," Bertram unid. "I doubt earliest Vivion said is about the they'll even feel it." Cows were darted with a tranquilizer so collars could be attached. The drug is completely out of animals' system within two days, biologists said. Collaring calves is done without drugs. A helicopter will help in that task, sitting on the ground after cow and offspring have been separated. Researchers will begin looking for calves on May 20, which O Q 'tl xo ajj Search is on He and Bertram, both U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists, spent last April 15 combing the wilderness near the village of Beaver for 30 cow moose. They put radio collars on the animals a month ago, the first moose morstep in a the tality study agency launched in the western Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. The goal is to learn why the two-ye- ar area has a low moose populaso low that sport hunttion ing has been suspended in recent years. Biologists will study moose calves to see how many survive and the cause of death for those that die. '"'We're not sure what's going on," Vivion said. "This will give us another piece of the puzzle, and it's a pretty big puzzle." r 'r I'll K. ) (T'nz "zr liism fli rz fWS ! I " .frtyji ' I i --31 o t i u hh 11 ! ra A 1 i 1 e ft?: Plfefl . Low numbers A Fish and Wildlife moose counc within 1,500 square miles of Beaver two years ago found one moose for every five to 10 square miles. That's r.i.. II ?MJ 5 J u--ui, v, fcBA?s Slock tefflfed to quontrfes on hid. ovaWiie m IsSs"' kswpjeh an low extremely population, Vivion said, particularly when compared with such high density moose areas as north of Galena where the average is 13 moose per square mile. The lack of moose near Beaver means those who live there have a more difficult time putting meat on the table. "There are people who aren't able to get a moose," Vivion said. "I think the folks who hunt pretty hard can get one, but it certainly isn't as easy or efficient as if you had more moose around." Last week's job was to determine where the collared adults had roamed. When their calves are born, biologists will collar them, too. Then Vivion and Bertram will fly every day to check on the youngsters' well-bein- COMPAQ. 7 fI ( I' m& Sjf3, .J V MnOSi WT ' .! i",,. 2240'-v-, RS wft MX ' sa;ir!.S .1x1 immrS ,,, MmytlGI ST r hard LJa tmt 'fpt'fll 130 I -u . ' itSim3i ' KfM fcBMSP(m& Teckncim -, KWll Sli- I6 1 fa iCAS;a ' Celdator Super Sd- -r flflsafff Cessfcxtwf Ornoaiifsr i g. Costly study The study will cost between $120,000 and $140,000 during the first year. It will be less expensive the second year because fewer moose will need to be collared. Researchers won't have all the answers after two years. But the study may help determine whether predators or other causes are responsible for moose scarcity in the western section of the national wildlife refuge, which is larger than Maryland and Delaware combined. "It could be related to a lot of things," Vivion said. "It could be a high predation rate, high hunter success rate, or some kind of nutrition or disease problem. Predation is one thing we know fairly well how to examine because this kind of study has been done in several places in the state." Determining the cause is a process of elimination. An earlier test found that Yukon Flats moose have a fairly low fat level, although they are comparable to moose in other areas of the state, especially the Tanana Valley. "These are reasonably healthy w. 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