Training Week

Wow!

There is honestly no way to truly express everything that has happened this last week. Even that one simple word can't quite cut it so I will try my best to explain.

Over the course of the week the interns and I have settled into our new apartment and truly excited about the summer that lies ahead. Our first two days we sat in a classroom listening to power points from Dick Thiel, Dave Mech, and other staff. Each presentation was based on their 40+ years of research experience. Combine their experience and it's well over 100 years. Although I did not realize this at first, being taught by them is kind of a huge deal! They are well known in the wolf community and both have written a lot of books, articles, etc about more than just wolves. A few examples of books include Dick Thiel's "Wolves we have Known" and Dave Mech's "The Wolf" (old version and updated version - or, jokingly, the old testament and new testament). You can check out more of Dave Mech's works and his background via his website: http://www.davemech.org/index.html
I'm not sure of what else to say besides it being an honor to listen to these two present their wolf information to us. I purchased "The Wolf" (new testament lol) and managed to get Dave's signature with a message written in the cover as well. One day I will purchase the other book, Wolves we have Known, in order to grab Dick's signature as well. It was a pleasure speaking with both of them! Dick even recommended other books about Ohio's history that I could check out; such as 'Frontiersmen'. There was another book he recommended that started with an 'S' but I cannot find my red notebook that had the title written down in it!

We covered a variety of subjects that included: Northwoods Ecology, Natural History (Wild Wolves, Populations of North America - Wolves of the World), Ambassador Wolf History, Ethogram (Wolf Behavior), Does and Don'ts of engaging Visitors, Human Values, Conservation and Controversy, Federal Recovery, Controversies about Wolves (Isle Royale, Harvestable Surplus, Wolf Effects on Prey and Teaching Controversial Issues, Trophic Cascades - Another View), Handling Difficult Types, and IWC's Most Important Educational Messages.

We also observed a few programs offered by the center: Meet the Pack, What's for Dinner?, Mystery in the Sky, and a program on Radiotelemetry taught to a school group. Staff discussed membership with us, we observed opening/closing, and we got to pick an educational movie to watch. We chose Nature: In the Valley of the Wolves and you can even watch it at home if you want, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/in-the-valley-of-the-wolves/video-full-episode/4678/

If you do watch the video, I recommend reading this article once you have finished watching it (not before!) http://www.backpacker.com/yellowstone_druid_pack/blogs/1760

Yesterday was the first day we truly got to go out and adventure around Ely. Another intern, a staff member, and myself went to a bar the night prior to hang out with four USGS staff members, whom are conducting wolf research, across the street from us. One of the interns worked with two of them before so it was honestly really fun to get to listen to all of their stories and look at all the wolf pictures they had from previous jobs. It's actually kind of nice to see what it's like to be a "wildlife professional" and to talk to people who have had prior years of experience in the field. You kind of get a good idea where you stand in the mix and what it takes to climb to where these people are. Years of experience definitely shapes a person.

Anyway, yesterday we visited the North American Bear Association (http://www.bear.org/website/) and got to see two of their bears, Ted and Holly. Ted is a large black bear male but I don't remember how old he is. Holly is a yearling that was introduced into the exhibit only two days prior to yesterday and we only saw glimpses of her running around since she's still trying to get used to her enclosure.

Ted

We also learned how to drive the bus that we will use for different night programs. Some of these programs include howling trips, which is very exciting. In order to do this we had to take a defensive driving course. I passed with a high score based on Minnesota's standards. Very easy course. Don't drive like a fool and you'll be fine.

After the bear center we decided to check out Kawishiwi Falls on the outskirts of Ely. We walked about a mile to get back to the falls and took a variety of pictures/videos. Afterwards we walked down to Fall Lake and picked a nice log to sit down on for lunch. We all ate and the staff member discussed outdoor safety with us; what equipment we should normally carry, a few examples of what to do if certain situations occur, and so on. There's also a powerpoint with 65 slides of information given to us later. Hopefully the children will never hurt themselves!

Please excuse the poor quality.

When we walked back to the parking lot we loaded into the bus and I volunteered to drive back. It was rather easy to drive the bus back and park it via backing up. Not trying to sound over-confident. We then went back inside and looked at various powerpoints, later collected twigs from the different conifers for a presentation, and viewed presentations again. We also viewed closing again as well and later I went out with two staff members and an intern to get Italian food at Sir G's Italian Restaurant. Spaghetti was great!!


Aside from this, today is our day off and the most we have down is cruise around town. I bought a book recommended by Lynn Holtzmen: Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I'm excited to start reading this book, The Wolf, and four Sigurd Olson books sitting on my desk. At some point we talked about visiting Listening Point but I truly hope I read at least one of Sigurd Olson's books beforehand. Anyone that is in Wildlife should be aware of Sigurd because he played an important role much like Aldo Leopold and John Muir. Thank you Lynn for introducing me to his name/books before I arrived here!! For more information on Sigurd, feel free to check out the Listening Point Foundation's website: http://listeningpointfoundation.org/sig-olson/

As I begin to learn more about the four wolves in our Ambassador pack at the center, aside from what I have so far, and once I accumulate better photographs and behaviors I will write up a Biography post for everyone. I think I have mentioned mostly everything so far so bye for now!