Tough Summer For the Critters

July 7, 2005

    Our pal and colleague Andy Selters happened to be up along Rock Creek near the pack station on the day of the last really big snow of the season. That was May 9—the day that Mammoth Mountain Ski Area punched through the 600-inch snowfall total for only the second time since it began keeping records in 1969.
    Selters was reflecting on “one of the more rugged winters since I’ve been here” when something caught his eye. There, in broad daylight, was a pine marten, normally a nocturnal creature and faster than greased lightning.
    “The only ones I’d ever seen were just a flash of their tails,” he said.
Selters stared at the marten and the marten stared back.
    “I would have to say that the guy was pretty much bummin’,” Selters said, characterizing the marten’s mood.
    And for good reason.
    The late-arriving summer of 2005 was hard on the critters up here. Deer, who normally are moving toward higher ground by mid-May, were stuck on the snow line, well below where they should have been. Ground-inhabiting creatures, such as the hibernating Belding’s squirrel, emerged only to find feet and feet of snow still on the ground. Although birds usually can fly to food sources, even they had trouble with the snow in the high country.
    Even though summer’s here, everything is happening anywhere from a few weeks to a month later, from the opening of Sierra Star Golf Course and the bike park to the high trails in the backcountry, which this season might not ever be totally clear of snow in some places.
    This is good news for those of us who enjoy September and October—dry months that can be uncomfortably dusty. This season, presumably, there will be a little more moisture; the lake levels will be higher and things will be a little healthier.
    That won’t be much of a salve to the animals who suffered through the spring, though. As Selters put it:
    “Plants and humans can pretty much hang out, but the animals can’t. They’re bummin’.”